Star Wars: The Path of Darth Venison
by VenisonStories
Summary: The Battle of Kommaden was a great victory for the Rebel Alliance, and now word goes around that there is another base on the remote planet of Dantooine. Venison begins to teach Rooda the ways of the Force as the Empire continues to spread throughout the galaxy. Rakine learns of a new threat that challenges the Rebel Alliance. Will the rebels continue to succeed in their rebellion?
1. Chapter 1

It was quiet where we were. Rooda and I sat up at the top of the canyon of Ikana with hand in hand, we faced away from the canyon to the vast desert. Everything seemed fine, I didn't see anything going on. No movement on the planet's sandy surface. Then the sand started to vibrate, and a small hill started to grow out of the ground. The sand poured down the hill as it grew taller. Then all the sand fell to the ground and it wasn't a hill at all. It was a large black hooded head. It was a Sith Lord, with it's hood hanging over his head, only revealing a sagging jaw with crooked teeth. It laughed as a long wrinkly hand began to grow out of the ground next to it, and it sank it's long fingernails into the sand. The giant hooded figure began climbing out of the ground cackling, pulling itself out of the desert floor. It towered over me and Rooda as we backed away, then we stopped at the edge of the canyon. The giant Sith Lord was above and over us and a long, lethal drop was under our hoofed feet. The Sith Lord laughed a raspy, evil laugh as it reached out for me with it's massive hand, and my vision faded to black.

I gasped and opened my eyes again, my head jerked straight up, and I looked around. I was in my bed, in the cave in Ikana Canyon. I turned to my left to see Rooda still sound asleep. I sat up in the bed, pulling the leathery blanket off to my side. I stood on my hoofed feet and stretched my back and arms, and rubbed my eyes with my metal fingers. I looked around the cave and saw my communicator started to vibrate on my belt. I walked over to the stone table to answer it. I pulled my communicator off the belt and opened it, an image of the Rebel Captain of the Alliance Starfighter Corps appeared. It was my old friend Rakine Cerivian.

"What is it, Rakine?" I yawned widely, exposing my fanged teeth before closing my mouth again, to clear my throat.

"Sorry to wake you, Ven-" he stopped and cleared his throat as he put on his rebel pilot helmet over his slick black hair, "-Lord Venison. I had expected you to be awake by now."

I walked to the cave entrance door and slowly opened it, poking my muzzle and face through. I looked up at the dark red sky, as the red sun began to rise over Ikana Canyon.

"It's barely even dawn." I moaned irritably and closed the door. "You know the different systems have different daytimes. What is it?"

"We have been hearing rumors from Kommaden that another rebel base is hidden on the remote planet, Dantooine."

"Dantooine?" I asked him. "Isn't that where the Jedi Master Windu fought in a battle during the Clone Wars?"

"That's the one. We have only rumors from the people of Kommaden that a second rebel base is hidden over in Dantooine. We have no proof so we cannot validate it as a fact or debunk it as just a rumor. But if it's true, we must be careful though, the Dantooine system is up in the galactic north. Where the Empire continues to try gaining more territory."

"Well what, you want me to just pack my things and get over there to take a look around for this base?"

"All I said was we've heard rumors."

"You want me to check Dantooine for a Rebel base nonetheless."

"Pretty much, yeah."

I sighed and nodded.

"All right. I guess I'll take a look at it. But what about Rooda? I can't just leave her here-"

"You're right Eyt. You're not leaving me here," I turned around to see her stand up from the bed and yawn, grabbing her rope belt from the stone table and tying it around her waist. "I'm coming with you."

"Roo, no. What if it's dangerous?"

"You've been on dangerous missions without me too much." She sighed and stuck her dueling lightsabers under her belt so they stuck on her person.

"Okay, you can come with me to Dantooine. But please try not to stay out of danger's way?"

"Eyt, listen. I know you really care about me and my safety and it's really sweet, but you have to stop worrying about me so much. I can handle everything just like you. Remember back on Zant wen I was the only female Zan-Deer Warrior? Yeah, I can do this." She looked at me resting her hands on her sides.

"All right. I believe you." I nodded submissively.

"I'm too good at negotiating, am I?" She chuckled as she walked for the door.

"Yeah." I grinned. "We're on our way, Rakine."

Rakine's image nodded and faded, I turned off the communicator and stuck it to my belt. I wrapped my belt around my waist over my metal abdominal plate and I Force pulled my cloak to me. I put the cloak on and rest the large cape over my shoulders. I grabbed my combat boots on the way out the door and we walked toward my ship, the _Zant's Nightmare_. The doors opened and I sat in the pilot seat, Rooda sat in the chair next to me, and the ship picked up off the ground and up out of the canyon and into the sky. The red sun began to rise and as we reached the atmosphere, Ikana's sandy surface turned bright red from the light of the red sun. I activated the ship's long sails and flew off into space, back to Yavin 4, to reunite with the Rebel Alliance and to find more information on the rumored base said to be on Dantooine. Rooda turned to me.

"Do you think it's true? Do you think there are more rebels somewhere else?"

"I don't know. Rakine said that they don't even know if its true or not. But we can hope that if it is true, they are going to help us stand up against the Empire."

"Galactic peace sounds really good right about now." Rooda sighed. "Why did the Empire rise in the first place? I can't remember Rakine's story."

"I think he said that the Chancellor Palpatine too control of the Republic and renamed it the First Galactic Empire. Turned out he was a Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, and so he started a campaign to try and take the whole galaxy for his own control. And the Old Republic would be gone forever.""

"Wow," Rooda turned to the windshield in the front. "So the Sith are the evil that we've tried to destroy?"

"We'll, not all Sith," I cleared my throat and she looked at me.

"Yeah. Not all. But the Empire, do you think that's what the Sith wanted to do? Take over the galaxy and possibly destroy everything?"

"I don't want it. That's why I'm against the Empire."

Rooda nodded.

"But you're a Sith nonetheless, a good one. I remember when you became a Sith, we went to Naboo, and you tried to train me with the Force, but- I just don't feel it. What if I can't use the Force?"

I closed my eyes and felt the air around me, only a small rift of Force energy resonating from Rooda.

"I can feel something. You might just be able to learn quite a bit. I'm not fully sure, but we can try."

"Well, you've been through the same thing before. How did you learn to use the Force?"

"If I remember what Rakine said when I first became Force-sensitive, he said just feel it around you. If you listen carefully, it will speak to you. It will guide you."

She looked down to her hand and flexed her fingers. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, thinking silently. She's trying to see if it works. I continued to sail the ship to the Yavin system to the Rebel Alliance base and we sat silently, I kept feeling for tremors in the Force to see if Rooda could learn it. So far not one.


	2. Chapter 2

The ship's sails deactivated as we reached the jungle of Yavin 4, and Rooda opened her eyes again. I could feel a small jolt in the Force when she stood up. I turned to her to see if she caused it.

"I could almost feel it. I could almost feel the Force." She turned to me.

"I felt something, a small vibration. That's very good." I nod. "Maybe you will learn to harness it's power and be capable of unnatural power like me and even Rakine."

She turned to me.

"You remember how you once wanted to train me as an apprentice?"

"Yes. I had changed my mind, because you're already well trained in combat. I couldn't try to make you better than you are. Plus I don't like the idea of me training you, makes me feels superior." I shudder. "And I think our relationship is good enough already." I held out my cybernetic hand to her and she gently held it. "I don't want to change anything about it now."

"And if I learned some of the Force?"

"What could I possibly train you with? Most of the things I have discovered in the Force was done by personal experience. I was only taught how to pick things up and throw them. The rest I figured out as I went along."

She nodded and smiled, and while we still held hands, I flew the ship into the main hangar with my other hand, and I landed the _Nightmare_ on the floor of the base. We both got up and walked to the doors of the ship and opened them, walking out into the hangar. Rakine ran up to us and slapped his hands together in a loud clap. He took off his rebel pilot helmet and brushed his hair back with his hand.

"So, what do to think? Is there a rebel base on Dantooine?" Rakine chuckled as he walked to us.

He looked different than when we last saw him. His hair was much shorter, almost resembling a buzzcut, but his hair was long enough to still be slicked back. He still wore his olive jacket, but under he wasn't wearing a plain, holy, white v-neck. Instead he wore a simple gray Jedi tunic under.

"We don't know yet." I shook my head. "We just got here. We need to discuss it with Mon Mothma."

"If we can find her," Rakine shrugged. "She said she had something to do. Talk to somebody or something."

I looked around for Mon Mothma then shrugged.

"She wasn't in the council chamber?" Rooda asked.

"Not when I last checked. I'm telling you something weird's going on."

"Where is Rulus Knil-Wean? Is she present?"

"Oh yeah, she's fine. It's Mon Mothma that I haven't seen all day. I don't know if she left on some mission or something. But while we're here, there's something I want you to see." He ran to a large ship, resembling one of the X-Wing starfighters, with it's crossed, dualing wings and all it's details. The entire ship was larger than a usual X-Wing and it was designed with a black paint coat, covering the whole ship. It has more laser cannons than the usual X-Wing starfighter as well.

"What is that?" Rooda stared at the large black X-Wing.

"This is my new ship. After the Battle of Kommaden, this was made for me. Pretty nice, right?" Rakine tapped the metal side of it with his hand as he leaned against it.

"It's awesome," I chuckled. "Better than my _Nightmare_. My ship is basically just a silver recreation of my head. With the antler-sails and everything."

"I know," he chuckled. "Might want to get that thing upgraded." He turned to the young rebel pilot Knuks Depirts, from the Battle of Kommaden. "See if you and the mechanics can upgrade Lord Venison's ship. Fix it up. Make it both look better and work better."

"Yes sir, Rakine," Knuks and a few rebel mechanics ran past us to my ship.

"Think the ship will be alright?" Rooda asked me.

"It'll be good as new. These guys built all the Alliance's starfighters. You have nothing to worry about."

I nodded and walked around the hangar, first taking a look at all the ships that parked on the floor, and then headed to the hallway where the council chamber is. Rooda and Rakine followed after me and when I turned my head toward them, Rakine suddenly twitched violently. He grabbed his forehead in his hands and backed into a wall, groaning.

"Rakine?!" I stopped and turned back to him. "What is it?"

"Nothing. I've just been experiencing something lately." He groaned. "Sudden violent quakes in the Force is all."

Rooda helped pick up Rakine and slung him over her shoulder and we continued walking. I felt another small bump in the Force.

"There's another," he moaned as he lay over Rooda's shoulder.

"Describe these quakes in the Force, Rakine. You know the Force better than I, that may be why you're experiencing sharper shakes in the Force."

"Sharper? You feel these tremors in the Force too?" He asked me.

"Only small bumps, and that started when we got here."

"That's about when the first one hit me. Whatever it is, you brought it with you-" He turned to Rooda and smirked. "He brought it with him." He began to speak in his normal voice. "I see what you're doing. You're trying to learn the ways of the Force aren't you, Roo?"

She closed her eyes as we kept walking, and Rakine and I both felt it. She's trying to clear her mind. I walked into the council chamber and stopped, looking around. Rooda stopped behind me, her eyes still closed.

"Shut. Up." Rakine stared. "Her eyes were closed. How does she know where she's going or when to stop?"

"I can feel his presence as he stopped."

"Yeah, right." Rakine replied sarcastically and Rooda rolled we eyes.

"I'm serious."

"She's right, Rakine. I felt it too."

Rooda took Rakine off her shoulder and set him back down on the ground. He twitched again and held his head. I turned to Rooda as the small bump passed by.

"You've got to learn to control that, Roo."

She nodded.

"It's going to take a lot of practice. Peace and quiet should help to calm yourself. It's how I learned to control the Force."

She looked down at her hands and sighed.

"I can try."

"It's going to take some time so don't try and learn it all at once. Okay?" I tried to reassure her, to try and help her release her sudden stress. So much has happened to her in such a short amount of time.

She sighed and smiled.

"Okay."

I heard something back in the hangar approach. We all turned around and a ship was landing in the hangar.

"An Alderaan CR90 Corvette. But what's it doing here?" Rakine stared at the ship.

Captain Antilles walked over to us and stared at the ship as well.

"It's a blockade runner. It must have something for us."

As it landed on the ground, it's doors opened and Mon Mothma walked out, a grin on her face.

"Where were you?" Rakine asked her.

"I have recently been visiting the rebel base on Dantooine, in the far galactic north. The rumors you have all heard are true. There is another base. But they need assistance from some fellow rebels."

Rakine and I exchanged a few looks of confusion then we turned back to Mon Mothma.

"It's real," Rakine said.

I looked at Mon Mothma.

"Are you requesting some of us to go to the base on Dantooine to help aid those rebels?" Rooda asked her.

"That would be a wonderful idea." She nodded. "I think-" she pointed to Captain Antilles, then to me and Rooda. "Could you three go out there and help the Rebels on Dantooine?"

Antilles nodded and bowed to her.

"We will do what we can to help them," I nodded.

"Thank you, Lord Venison." Mon Mothma smiled.

"Ven," Rakine walked towards me, pulling a small metal object from his inner jacket pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it in my metal hand and examined it. It was mostly a bolt pyramid-shaped cap.

"What is this?" I asked him.

"An upgrade to your darksaber. Screw that into your pommel end before getting back into combat. It's sole purpose is to stimulate your saber crystal and the emitter to produce a larger blade. You have fought well with greatsabers a few times in the past too, so this should be of some use yet."

"Thank you Rakine," I nodded and screwed the pyramid bolt into the pommel end of my darksaber.

"Lord Venison, Rooda," Rakine looked at us and we turned to him. "May the Force be with you both."

"May the Force be with you, Rakine," we turned back to the ship as he stepped back, seeing us off.

Mon Mothma walked away from the blockade runner and Antilles boarded it, putting on his rebel fighter helmet. Rooda and I walked behind him and the doors of the ship closed. The ground shook under us and the ship flew out of the hangar of the Yavin base.

"Now on Dantooine, there has been some panic." Antilles looked at both of us. "I've been to both bases, and Dantooine is less confident in overthrowing the Empire."

"That's why we're going." I nod.

"Well, whatever happens, at least it'll help make the Alliance stronger against the Empire."

Rooda looked around at the inside of the ship. The walls were perfect and white, with flashing red and yellow panels. The walls and ceiling were perfectly smoothened. The ship had no flaws in it.

"We have company," I looked down the hall as a tall, golden figure walked over to us, its legs were slightly moving, completely stiff, as if it could barely walk. It held its arms up above its waist and looked at me and Rooda curiously with its glowing eyes. It was a protocol droid.

"Oh, hello." He greeted us talking in a soothed robotic voice. "I didn't know we would be having visitors. I am See Threepio, human cyborg relations. Now-"

He stopped and looked carefully at my antler-sabers and Rooda's curved dueling sabers, then noticed my darksaber on my belt.

"Oh my," he raised his arms in a surrendering gesture, "Weapons! Oh, please don't hurt me. I'm too young, I'm not ready to-"

"Threepio," Antilles turned to the droid.

"Yes Captain Antilles?" He tried to calmed down.

"They're not going to hurt anyone. They're just passengers on a flight to Dantooine."

Threepio nodded and turned to us. Antilles walked down the hall to check on the rest of the ship.

"Protocol droids..." Antilles shook his head as he turned a corner.

"Oh please do forgive me, sir," he looked at me then lowered his arms. "I've just not been used to anyone with so much weapons. And with this galaxy's economy, who can blame you two?"

I chuckled and shook my head slowly.

"My name is Lord Venison, and this is Rooda. We're just travelers to Dantooine, and we have no quarrel with anyone on this ship."

The droid chuckled and cleared his throat.

"Pardon me sir but, are you aware that "venison" means "deer meat"? And that you are a member of a deer species."

"I am aware of it," I sighed. "At first it was just a joke from he who named me, but now he's gone and the name has caught on."

"But Dantooine is too remote for any visitors to be carrying weapons. You're not part of that dreadful Rebel Alliance are you?!" He started to worry again.

"We are," Rooda answered. "We just need a flight there. You're not in any danger. Now will you calm down?" She looked slightly annoyed by Threepio's fearful behavior.

Threepio nodded and calmed down, and a smaller droid came down the hall toward us. It was silver and blue, and it slowly moved its domed head side to side, mailing beeping noises as a red light flashed.

"Artoo Detoo, there you are," Threepio turned down to the small droid. "Why don't you at least try to make yourself presentable when we have visitors?" He turned back to us and Artoo started whirring.

"Now why don't you just try to behave yourself, hm?" Threepio asked Artoo as it beeped rapidly as if annoyed.

Rooda and I looked at each other confused as the droids kept bickering on and on. Artoo's light flashed blue and red as it beeped more.

"They are traveling to Dantooine, Artoo. I don't understand why you have to worry so much for just a mechanic."

Artoo made a noise that sounded like a mechanical raspberry as it turned its domed head toward Threepio.

"Who are you calling a talking coat rack, you pathetic little scrap pile?! "Threepio looked at the small droid irritated, but his blank face didn't show the anger in his voice. He only kicked the droid.

Rooda and I backed slowly away from the droids as they continued arguing in the hallway.

"These droids are crazy." Rooda muttered to me.

I nodded.

"The sooner we get to Dantooine, the better."

Threepio and Artoo stopped arguing and Threepio walked over to us, his voice was calm again.

"I'm terribly sorry about my counterpart Artoo. He always does cause so much trouble."

"That's quite alright," Rooda chuckled then turned to me, whispering to me. "How are we going to tolerate these two?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "We just have to focus on our main mission right now."

"Yes," Captain Antilles walked back to us from the far end of the hall. "We have reached Dantooine."


	3. Chapter 3

Dantooine was a beauty from above. The land down below was covered in a rich orange brown blanket of grass, and the soil was cut apart by vast seas of water. The clouds soared above as the CR90 Corvette soared trough the blue sky down toward what I assumed to be the Rebel base. A square shaped perimeter made up of walls surrounded the main base, a large circular spot where the ground looked as if it rose up in a perfect circle. The ship landed down on the orange grass in the walls of the base and a metal door opened up. I felt a strong presence in the Force as we stepped out, and I knew it wasn't from me, or Rooda. It came from another being somewhere, in this base.

"Do you feel that?" I turned to Rooda.

She nodded slowly.

"There's something here," she whispered to me.

"So good to be back," Antilles sighed happily as the ship's doors opened. We walked out after him, leaving the droids, See Threepio and Artoo Deeto behind in the ship.

"If they needed us, they would've told us to come with them," I hear Threepio's voice to the astrodriod. "You have much to learn about human behavior."

Artoo beeps at him as the ship's doors closed, cutting of their discussion. A little girl walked out from the opened base door, wearing a long white dress, with her dark brown hair in two buns on the side of her head.

"Hello, Leia," Antilles waved a hand at the girl and she waved back.

I felt a tremor in the Force surrounding this little girl, but she wasn't the main source of the Force that I have felt with Rooda at the ship. She was only slightly Force-sensitive and I don't think she knows it, or that the Force exists.

"Captain Antilles, who are those that you've brought with you?" She pointed at me and Rooda as we stepped off the walking platform of the ship.

"They're Rebels too," he smiled at her as he knelt down to her level.

"They look like they're gonna hurt me." She tried to hide her face from us, behind Antilles' shoulder.

"Now where's your manners?" Antilles chuckled and looked at the girl.

Rooda and I had walked over to them and Rooda chuckled, looking at how friendly Captain Antilles was to the girl.

"Who's the little girl?" I asked.

"This," Antilles stood up, "is Princess Leia of Alderaan. She is the daughter of Senator Organa, who leads the Rebellion here."

Another person had walked out of the base to greet us. He wore a gray outfit with a darker cape on his right side. He rubbed his flat hair and smiled at Leia as he stepped to her side.

"Senator Organa," Antilles bowed, Rooda and I looked at each other, then bowed after Antilles.

"Captain Antilles." He grinned. "Have you brought these two to help the Rebel cause here on Dantooine?" He looked at us curiously raising an eyebrow.

"We have come here to help serve the Rebel Alliance." I nodded.

"Wonderful," he smiled and held a hand out in a friendly manner, for a handshake. "I am Senator Organa, leader of this Alliance base."

"Darth Venison. Sith Lord and Rebel warrior."

I shook his hand with my metal left hand and I notice him stare down at it, with a surprised expression.

"Your hand-" he stammered. "It's- it's-"

"Cybernetic. I know. I've been in many confrontations with the Empire already. It's how I got all these metal body replacements."

"You are a tough fighter." He smiled. "I like that." He glanced at Rooda. "And you are, miss?"

"Rooda Khunelle." She shook Organa's hand with a smile. "I'm Lord Venison's fellow warrior and girlfriend."

Senator Organa nodded.

"How well have you both fought against the Empire?"

"I was in the Battle of Kommaden, fighting against Darth Vader himself in lightsaber combat."

"If only we had soldiers that brave to help us fight our battles here," Organa sighed and thought. "Well we do have-"

"If you need soldiers, that's exactly why we're here,"

"Wonderful," Organa smiled and he looked down at Leia. "Hear that my princess? They've come to help us to stop the Empire."

Leia nodded.

"But where's Miss Mothma? She said she'd be back to train me in politics."

Rooda chuckled.

"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child. She must be a smart little girl if she is taught in politics while we're fighting against the Empire."

Organa chuckled.

"She said Mon Mothma was her political mentor?" I asked Organa.

"She is," he nodded. "She was just here telling us that reinforcements were on the way. I am glad to see that you two are willing to aid us in our time of need."

"You've come to help us?" Leia leaned her head as she asked me. "Did you fight in other wars too?"

"Well, I wouldn't say wars. Just the Battle of Kommaden."

"Oh," she sat straight up and pointed my the darksaber on my belt. "The laser sword- I thought you fought in the Clone Wars. And the Great Jedi Purge."

I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, I wasn't in those fights."

"Then where were you?"

I sighed and stared down at the floor, then looked back at Organa as he took Leia by the hand

"I was a primitive fighter in an Outer Rim territory known as Zant. Rooda and I first learned how to fight there, and we had lived a primitive lifestyle in our old village."

"Then how did you get here?" Leia asked me.

I turned to Captain Antilles.

"The recording?"

He nodded and threw the holographic device at me, and I catch it in my metal hand. I turn to the base door.

"This will explain most of it. I will try my best to answer any questions needed to be asked. Might we head inside for me to play the recording on this? It's important."

"Yes of course," Organa nodded and he walked to the door, motioning us to follow after him. I stared at the walls of the interior of the base. Much of it was clean, spotless and smooth, like the white walls of the CR90 Corvette.. Organa turned into a hallway which led to a large central chamber. The design of the base had changed. The further we got, the base looked more durable and invulnerable than the outer walls. The central chamber was a large metallic circle that stretches underground, where much of the base was. We walked into an elevator and it slowly moved down to the bottom floor, and Organa turned to me. I felt the strong presence in the Force somewhere in the base, does it know we are here? Will it bring harm to us?

"What got you out of your old, primitive life on the Zant planet?" Organa's question snapped me out of the daze and I answered immediately.

"Rakine Cerivian. A Rebel fighter who came to us. He sensed my strength in the Force and offered us to come with him to help the Rebels. He wanted to train me into the Force and become a Jedi, to restore the Jedi Order and the Old Republic. He trained me well in the Force but we got into a fight."

I rubbed the base of my antler-sabers just where they delve into the back of my head.

"I got injured in battle and lost my position as Warrior in my village. My pride and respect was lost in the village."

Anger rose in me as I continued the story, I knew what a fool I still was for following the dark path.

"Outraged, I laid waste to the desert of Zant and stormed off to seek revenge on my friend. I met the mysterious Sith Lord, Sorin, on Hoth and he tricked me into taking his apprenticeship, and I became the Sith Lord that I am, the haunting Zan-Deer warrior, Darth Venison."

Organa chuckled and shook his head.

"Lord Sorin, always one with jokes, some a bit crude."

I nodded.

"What does he mean, joke?" Rooda asked me.

"It's my name, Venison. Means deer meat." I sighed and continued the story. "After taking Sorin's apprenticeship, he would be able to take control of my body and use my impulses to destroy my friends and everyone I cared about. I realized that Rakine was under the dark lord's control and he used him to attack me, luring me to him on Hoth, where he set up camp. A place for him to be safely sheltered, away from the Empire."

"Lord Sorin made a camp on Hoth, where he tricked you with the Force to follow him and take him as your master?" Leia asked curiously.

I nodded.

"I figured out that Rakine was still my friend, and that Sorin was my true attacker. I tried to warn Rakine that Sorin now had access to my mind and body. We regrouped on Hoth to stop the Sith Lord once and for all. We succeeded but look at my stomach."

I looked down that the metal plate that covers my abdomen and wraps around my body.

"I was injured in the infamous fight and now I'm scarred with Sorin's damage to me. His intent to destroy me and Rakine. But he fell in battle against both of us. It was after that when I felt a disturbance on Zant. Rooda and I went back home to investigate- and-"

I stare angrily at the floor, making fists with my cybernetic hands, as I still held Antilles' comunicator.

"We found our village destroyed, not a survivor."

"Destroyed by the Empire," Rooda sighed sadly and Organa lowered his head in sympathy.

"And then we came to the Rebel Alliance to help crush the Empire. To restore peace to the galaxy and to avenge the people of out village."

"I'm so sorry," Organa spoke softly as the elevator stopped and we walked into the large council chamber in the Dantooine base.

"And the rest is explained on this, Captain Antilles' communicator. He had recorded me confronting Darth Vader on Kommaden and my rant against the Empire. How they have scarred both me and Rooda with grief."

"You want to have this seen by the Rebels here on Dantooine?" Organa asked as he took the communicator from me.

"It will help boost confidence into the fighters against the Empire, and it shows what evil the Empire truly is. Rooda and I have grieved enough already. Now we just wait in anger and with hopes of revenge, for the Empire destroying what we have sworn to protect."

"Then the message will be delivered to the Rebels here."

Organa held the communicator tightly in his hand as we stopped in the center of the council chamber.

"We should wait for everyone to gather," I told him. "This is something the Alliance has to see. This is the reason why we must fight back, why we stand against the Empire. The contents in that recorder are for all to see."

"I understand." Organa nodded slowly.

He turned the communicator on and stuck it in the central pedestal, a larger holographic image covered the hologram stage. He stopped the recorded message before it could play, and Captain Antilles walked to an intercom, before pushing the button and speaking into it, his voice bombing overhead, throughout the base. I held his head and began to feel the stronger Force presence grow nearer, as if the figure is walking the halls of the Rebel base.

"He knows were here," I muttered to myself quietly.

"Everyone report to the council chambers, Senator Bail Organa has something special we all need to see." He pulled his fingers away from the intercom as his announcement stopped. Rooda and I looked at each other before I sat down in a chair and claps my hands around my head, thinking. Rooda stood by me and rest her soft hand on my cold, metallic left shoulder. The groups of Rebels walked in and Organa welcomed them all in and motioned them to sit down. Antilles walked back down to the center and he nodded as Organa faced the group.

"Do we really have to play this recording again?" Rooda turned to me, worried.

"I don't think they know the troubles the Empire has caused. If we get them motivated to fight against the Empire now, we will have at least three large star systems fighting with us. Against the Empire."

"Still," she looked down to the floor, "something about this doesn't feel right. Like we're stirring a large pot, angering everyone to fight against a superior fighting force. Can we win actually against them? Can we fight back?"

I sighed.

"I don't know. But I keep hoping that we can win. We can win." I looked at my two cybernetic hands and held her hoof-like hands softly, resting them into my metal palms. We stared directly at each other, making eye contact, her mouth slowly opening and I continued. "And when we do, it'll finally be just the two of us. Alone on Ikana, in the farthest corner of the galaxy. Where we can finally live our own life together." I smile reassuringly and she manages a slight grin.

Organa watched as all the Rebel fighters sat down and waited for him to speak.

"The reasons for us fighting against the Empire, they hurt people, they killed the majority of the Jedi Order. They are destroying the Republic that we all loved." Organs turned to the pedestal and set one finger on the communicator, ready to play the recording.

"I have encountered Darth Vader himself, on the surface of Kommaden during the battle, and I have called him out. What his Empire has done to me and my dear Rooda. How they have destroyed everything we fought to protect. How now we must quickly fight back before they do this to everyone else in the galaxy." I turned on the recording with a simple wave if my hand and a flow through the Force. The large holograms of me and Vader appear on the platform and I watch again as I called him out.

"You knew my family and my Zan-Deer friends were important to me. Everyone that lived in that village I had a connection to. Even mum."

The Rebels start to talk to each other and murmur about the recording, the same reaction as on Yavin 4.

"My mother was the only person in that village I truly looked up to, after my father died." The recording went on and I saw my own image as it yelled at Vader back in the town square. I felt my anger and sadness slowly rise inside me. Then the image started yelling loudly at Vader, tears rained from my holographic cheeks.

"Here it goes again," Rooda sighed and I nod slowly.

"I've tried so many times, spent so much time in my younger life, trying to impress my family, trying to prove I can do things right. And when I turned my back to them just once, you had killed them all, everyone I had left! You think the First Galactic Empire is so great and powerful, that it was meant to rule the galaxy. Yet you mercilessly end millions of innocent lives like we're worthless animals. Animals! My own mother was pregnant with a fawn when your army had gunned her down!"

"And they all start yelling, now." Rooda whispered to me and I chuckle, shaking my head.

Some Rebels stood up, booing at Vader and the Empire that he stands for. I turn my head to Rooda as she closed her eyes, I felt her starting to vibrate through the Force.

"You hear me, you ruthless, Imperial hunk of metal?! She wa-"

Vader's image began Force choking mine and the Rebels continued shouting angrily. I watched as Vader picked me up by my neck, choking me, and the holographic recording stopped before Vader began yelling back at me. Rooda held a hand out at the projection pedestal, I felt her tremors in the Force as she reached out to the communicator, and it slowly shut off.

"Very good," I nod my head.

She only blushed, her cheeks turning bright pink as she lowered her ears, smiling happily at me. I felt the Force begin to slowly vibrate around her, and I looked at Organa from the corner of my eye, as he continues to preach to the Rebels.

"This is what we fight for. We cannot let the Empire destroy our friends and families, like it did this young stag." He held a and out to me as he spoke. "But rest assured, we will triumph over the Empire, and we will bring peace, prosperity, and tranquility to the galaxy. We will resurrect the Old Republic that we lived peacefully in, and not this crude Empire."

The standing Rebels sit back down and let Organa continue.

"But believe me when I say we have a difficult time ahead of us. If we are to remain strong and bring peace and justice to the galaxy, if we are to dominate the Empire, we must first shed our fear of it."

The soldiers nodded.

"This recording is a perfect example of how the Empire uses brute force to strike fear into the hearts of the people. We must stop them before this happens throughout the entire galaxy."

I stood up and turned to the Rebels. Rooda sat silently, the Force still slowly vibrating around her. I begin to wonder if she can feel me through the Force yet.

"Control," she whispered to herself.

I continued to think of the much stronger Force being as he walked around the base, as if he's trying to find us.

"Now, do you think you can grow the courage to fight against them?" Antilles walked around and looked at all the Rebels gathered around.

Some nodded and some continued to murmur to each other. I felt a stronger vibration in the Force next to me, as Rooda stood up and held a hoofed hand out to the pedestal again, and the communicator detached from it and flew into her hand. She opened her eyes and looked into her hand, letting out a small gasp. I nod my head to her as she slowly smiles.

"Did I just do that?" She turned to me.

"You did. And I saw you do it." I grinned. "You're learning very fast, just like me when I first learned of the Force-" I stopped and immediately turned to the door where I felt the stronger Force being drawn nearer. Rooda and I knew he could feel us, and we tried not to worry. I felt him as he entered the room, a brown hood covering his head. He was a Jedi.

"Master Raph-Elan, what a nice surprise," Senator Organa welcomed him in.

He pulled his hood off and revealed short light blond hair, a small blond beard grew on his chin. He had bright blue eyes that stared right at everyone as he looked around. He had a chiseled face and small wrinkles under his eyes, and by looking at him, I can tell he's been serving the Jedi Order since before the Clone Wars. He was at least in his late forties, and he was a much wiser being.

"I hope I'm not intruding or interrupting anything," he spoke in a quiet, calm voice as he walked down an aisle toward the center of the council chamber.

"Not at all," Organa answered him.

Antilles walked over to the Jedi, stopping in the middle of the aisle, with Leia walking behind him.

"Hello master Jedi." She saw the Jedi excitedly and hugged him by the waist, and he chuckled, patting her head.

"Hello, little Leia." The Jedi chuckled.

I stood up and walked slowly up the aisle toward him, he took a step back and with the Force, his lightsaber flew into his hand.

"A Sith Lord," he muttered quietly as he motioned Leia to stand back.


	4. Chapter 4

"Now master Raph-Elan," Organa tried to reason with him. "This-"

The Jedi drew his lightsaber and pointed it at me, but he did not ignite it, revealing his blade. He simply held the weapon at me.

"If he is in here, then you're all in danger. He's a Sith Lord! Get out, quickly," the Jedi warned the rebels.

Everyone started to move around in the council chamber and the Jedi turned to Leia. She ran to Organa and in a quiet, calm manner, the rebels, including Organa, Leia, and Antilles, started to step away and slowly evacuate the room. Organa took Leia by the hand and walked out in fear, without a word, leaving Rooda and myself with this older Jedi. She stood up from the chair and watched as I faced the Jedi.

"I know what you're thinking," I stared at him, watching his reactions toward me. "You think I'm evil just because I know the Dark Side of the Force. You think the word "Sith" is blasphemous to your Jedi religion." I spoke calmly.

As he kept pointing his lightsaber at me, a threatening stare grew on his face. And without moving a muscle, he activated his lightsaber, and a long orange blade ignited from it and pointed right at me.

"You dare not mock the Jedi Order."

Rooda stepped closer and rest her hands firmly on her lightsabers, ready to defend me. I hold a hand out to her as a sign to stop. I want to make it clear to the Jedi that we mean no harm.

"Believe me when I say I'm not trying to mock your Jedi Order. I know what's been troubling the surviving Jedi. Loss," I stopped and thought, before continuing again. "Many Jedi have been killed when the Empire dawned. But I had no part in the Order to kill them."

But the Jedi didn't believe me, and so he glared at me, and I felt his anger rise. He was ready to attack. His lightsaber's orange blade hummed in the air as he kept it pointed at me.

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Anger. You feel anger. But that is not the Jedi way." I watch him as he continues to glare at me. "Do you really intend to strike me down right now, having only your anger fog your mind."

I slowly walked around him and we both slowly started walking counterclockwise in a circle. He kept his orange blade pointed at me.

"All the anger and hate, those are the Dark Side aren't they? I can feel them within you. You're better than this, you're a Jedi. And you don't know why I'm here or what I'm even doing. So why don't you just put your lightsaber down and listen to what I have to say."

We both stopped walking counterclockwise around each other after walking in a full circle. He thought about what I said as he stood there silent. Then he sighed. He lowered his blade deactivated his lightsaber, his orange blade shrank down into the emitter.

"Why do you toy with me like this?" He looked down to the floor then back to me. "How do you know the ways of the Jedi?"

"I was taught."

He rolled his eyes.

"Don't believe me? Two words. Rakine- Cerivian."

He lost his glare and his expression started to turn slowly from a face of anger to a face of worry. He kept his arms folded.

"Rakine-?" he muttered.

"He was a Padawan at the time of Order 66. He came to me, to teach me the ways of the Force."

I watched him to see what his reactions were. I stopped talking and he looked down at the floor closing his eyes. He tried to clear his thoughts through meditation.

"You mean to tell me-" he opened his eyes to me, "-that Rakine is alive? Rakine Cerivian?"

I nodded as he rubbed his blond bearded chin.

"He's alive. He's survived. And he's the Captain of the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Corps on Yavin 4."

He almost got excited by knowing of Rakine's survival, and he continued asking questions.

"And Karus?"

I stopped and looked down to the floor, shaking my head.

"Karus survived Order 66, but he had just fallen recently. At the hands of Sot-Kolok, an Inquisitor, just before the Battle of Kommaden."

He sighed and turned to the floor.

"Karus," he mumbled quietly, "he was never a fighter. He always talked about how he's much rather be a pilot. He was never fit to be a Jedi or even hold a lightsaber. How I wasted my time trying to train him-"

"No way." I looked at him in surprise, but also disbelief. "You were not Karus' mentor in the Jedi arts."

"No?" He began to walk closer than me, and I took a step back. "How do I know so much about him if I never trained him? Hm?"

He was right. He knew Karus deep down, he knew he was never meant to be a Jedi, and that he would have been much better as a simple pilot.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"My name is Yoshi Raph-Elan, a Jedi Knight of the Old Republic. As you are aware, I was Karus' Jedi mentor when he was young."

I nodded.

"I've tried so long to teach the boy the ways of the Force. I have felt him as he trained. He learned it and he did indeed learn to grow powerful in the Force. He just didn't know how to- let it out. Use it for himself. Or so he said."

"About Karus, the night he died, we had a cremation for him on Yavin 4."

Yoshi Raph-Elan nodded.

"A Jedi's funeral."

"After that, later that night, he came to me as a Force ghost-"

Yoshi looked at me in disbelief, with a fill of his eyes and the shake of his head.

"He told me of a power to levitate. That even the best Jedi can't master it. That it is impossible. He told me everything he knew about the Force."

The Jedi raised an eyebrow.

"If he was told about the power to levitate from his master, and that you claim to be him, you have to know this power."

Yoshi Raph-Elan stood silently and stuck his lightsaber to his belt. He held his arms to his sides and began to meditate through the Force. I turned behind me to see Rooda walk over to me and watch him as he used the Force around him. We felt the Force swarm him in large shrouds as he slowly lifted into the air. His feet lifted at least six inches in the air before the Force jerked violently in a burst and he collapsed on one knee. The Force left him and he started panting and rubbed the short blond hair on his head.

"It can be done-" he spoke to me between breaths, having used a lot of energy trying to float in the air, "-it's almost impossible, not even I can do it.

"How strong are you with the Force anyway?" Rooda asked him.

Yoshi stood up and cleared his throat.

"I've been known for my unnatural strength in the Force, I've done a lot of things in the past. When I were younger, at least, twelve years ago I was able to take down large GX1-series battle droids with my bare hands. And I always focus in the arts of the Force. I constantly reminded myself of the living Force, it is where we Jedi, and Sith, draw our power."

I nodded and turned to Rooda.

"Remember all that, when you try to focus your energy."

She nodded.

"You have an apprentice?" Yoshi asked me as he looked at Rooda.

"She was, but, I decided not to train her as her master. Because she knows well already how to fight in combat. She's just learning of the Force to help her."

"So she's not your apprentice? Then what relation is she to you?"

"We're- we- uh" Rooda looked to the floor nervously.

Yoshi Raph-Elan raised an eyebrow.

"We're in a relationship," I answered.

He sighed and rubbed his head.

"Now attachment, that's forbidden in the Jedi Code-"

"But there is no Jedi Order anymore," Rooda spoke up. "You don't have to follow the rules of a lost-"

Immediately, Yoshi grabbed his lightsaber and ignited its long orange blade, and he pointed it at Rooda, the tip barely touching her nose. She backed away in fear and we felt his anger rise intensely as he glared at her.

"The Jedi will never be lost," he spoke in an angered tone.

I ignited my darksaber and smacked his orange blade away from Rooda with my large black blade. He backed away and I stepped in front of Rooda, deactivating my darksaber. I looked down at the pyramid cap that Rakine gave me meant to enhance my darksaber, giving it a greatsaber blade size.

"She never meant to insult the Jedi religion, if that's what you think she did. But she's right. The Jedi Order has been disintegrated and only a few if its members have survived. You and Rakine are the only survivors I know of the Jedi Order. Who knows if there are others?"

Yoshi looked down to the ground, deactivating his orange lightsaber.

"You said you two were in some relationship?" He asked us.

We both nodded.

"And the Jedi Code doesn't have to apply to us. We're not Jedi," I continued. "I may be a Sith Lord, but I have feelings and emotions, I am allowed to be attached to others while you Jedi weren't."

"But the Jedi Order has been eradicated," Yoshi mumbled.

"You can be loyal to your Jedi Code and prohibit attachment, or you can accept the loss of the Jedi Order and move on. You will be able to express your true self. You will be allowed to feel romantic attachment for a special someone, and you can show anger and fear without submitting to the Dark Side like me." I looked down, then back up to him. "We are not so different you and I. The Dark Side is only another path in the Force, where you can be free to express yourself in person and in battle."

I watched as Yoshi stepped back to collect his thoughts, he sat in a chair and put a hand on his head.

"Are you really telling me the truth? Are the Sith really just another type of Jedi? You can show true emotions and learn more techniques in the Force?"

"Of course," I answered. "Now were not suggesting you to submit to the Dark Side. We're saying you can simply learn more from it. You can follow Rakine's path in between, balancing Light and Dark, walking the "Grey Path" so to speak."

"The Grey Path?" Yoshi asked confused.

"It's what he calls it. During Order 66, he and Karus escaped Coruscant to hide around the galaxy. They eventually stumbled upon Yavin and hid on Yavin 4. They found the rebel base starting there and Karus started as a soldier for the Alliance. Rakine continued to train himself and he searched for a way to learn the Dark Side, so he can grow stronger in the Force. He met the Sith Lord, Darth Sorin on Hoth and trained under him for some time. As Rakine grew older, Sorin grew harsh and started taking advantage of Rakine as an apprentice. He possessed him and controlled him to do his personal missions for him while he stayed on Hoth where he was safe. Soon Rakine quit the apprenticeship and temporarily broke the bond between them. About seven years passed and Rakine grew full knowledge of the Dark Side since. He's walked the Grey Path since then, and has been looking for people to help the rebel cause against the Empire."

"After eight years now, since the rise of the Empire, both Karus and Rakine survived?" Yoshi thought to himself. "Then how did you get into all this?"

"Rakine sailed the galaxy for allies to help him in the Rebel Alliance for years, after training to walk the Grey Path."

"Of course," he nodded. "The Grey Jedi was another class in the middle, focusing on both Light and Dark sides of the Force. Has he mentioned the Grey Jedi to you?"

I shook my head.

"He only told us the differences not the similarities."

Yoshi nodded slowly.

"And, what happened next with Rakine? After walking the Grey Path what did he do?"

"He came across the Zant system and met us in our home village. He befriended us and introduced us to the Force and life outside our system."

"You mean you started off living an isolationist life in this- Zant system?"

"More less," Rooda said to Yoshi.

"Rakine took us to Coruscant and he felt I was Force-sensitive when we met. He was willing to train me in the Force as an apprentice. One night we got into a fight, and I had no clue he was possessed by Sorin at the time." I turned around and pointed to the sockets where my antler-sabers drill into my head, replacing my natural antlers. "I lost my antlers in the battle and thus, back on Zant, I lost my position as a warrior. I lost my respect, my dignity, my honor."

"Your culture was adamant about this sort of thing were they?" Yoshi asked.

I nodded.

"Zant is full of primitives, it's a very traditional and cultural world. Just a stag's antlers represents their masculinity."

Yoshi nodded.

"Without them I was nothing but a phony. So I grew into a fit of rage and left Zant by itself, not a warrior to defend it. And what a fool I was. In my own rage and anger, I began to hate Rakine for what he's done, unaware of the fact that it wasn't him that ruined my life back on Zant. Lord Sorin did all this to bring me to him, on Hoth. I was foolish enough to take his apprenticeship and I was desperate to have a new name for myself, since "Eyt Pezymn" was now shamed on Zant. So I accepted Sorin's request of mentoring me in the Dark Side and I quickly rose as one of the Sith, Darth Venison."

"You never wanted to be a Sith Lord did you?" Yoshi asked sympathetically.

I shook my head.

"But it was too late. I had the outfit, I knew the Dark Side, I had these new antlers surgically drilled into my head, permanently replacing my past antlers and scarring my head of my submission to the Sith forever. But I knew all wasn't bad, I knew that the Jedi Order didn't allow people to be in love or to have hate or anger. And if I chose that path, I'd never look at Rooda the same way I see her now." I turned to her with a smile. "It's okay for a Sith to be romantically attached to someone, but not for the Jedi. Beside that I knew how similar the Jedi and Sith are, and I wanted to acknowledge that they were both the same in the past. They grew different, the Sith grew apart and discovered the Dark Side of the Force. They're different but that doesn't necessarily make the Sith completely bad. Only most of the major Sith Lords are fully corrupted by the Dark Side and use it for evil. But not me."

"You're not truly evil are you?" Yoshi looked at me.

"Not completely. I admit I have done a great many regrettable things in the past, and I still can't look at myself the same way for it."

"What did you do?" He asked.

"I went back to Zant as the new me, a Sith Lord, and I intended to steal back my honor that I lost in that village. And in my anger I killed my own chief, and stole back what was stolen from me. Then I asked Rooda to join me, so I can make her a more powerful warrior, and I offered to make her my apprentice. So I could teach her the Dark Side. But back the. She wasn't fully Force-sensitive, nor did she have any knowledge of the Force. So I took her to Hoth, in hopes of my old master, Sorin to train her and turn her to the Dark Side."

"It didn't work," Rooda chuckled. "He was too hesitant and lazy."

Yoshi Raph-Elan nodded.

"Soon I found out about what Sorin has done and how he deceived me and tricked me into meeting him and being his apprentice. I found out what an evil man he was. I turned against him and realized the truth, that Rakine never caused harm to me. It was all Sorin's doing, and Rakine was his puppet."

"By now you must've gained Rakine's trust and killed Sorin did you?" Yoshi asked.

I nodded.

"After we ended his tyrannical rule over Rakine, he never got negatively affected by the Force again. So the good and loyal Rakine was back, and he led the two of us to Yavin 4, and introduced us to the Rebel Alliance. We were eager to join if it meant the cataclysmic fall of the Empire."

"What's your story on how the Empire affected you?"

I sighed.

"Our goal was to protect our home village from annihilation. We left to quickly learn the Force, to make the job easier. When we came back, everyone and everything was gone. All our people gunned and mowed down, the huts and buildings, destroyed and left to decay. When we came back we were in Hell. And we knew it was the First Galactic Empire. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise." I chuckled. "Yet they can't even hit me from six feet away."

Yoshi sat down in a cloud of sadness, after hearing my story.

"So you're with us are you?" He asked. "You remain loyal to the Alliance to help overthrow the Empire?"

We nodded.

"I believe during this rebellion, we members of the Jedi-" I held a hand our to him, "-and the Sith," I pointed to myself, "can finally make agreement to not do harm to the other."

"So we are not going to fight each other in the near future?" He asked with a sense of relief.

"We are to cooperate if we are to successfully fight against the Empire. Plus if I really wanted to kill you and everyone here, I would've done it by now." I spoke in a dark, yet honest voice.

Yoshi nodded again before standing back up.

"How old are you, Lord Venison?" He asked.

"Nineteen years," I answered.

"You've been a Sith how long?"

"At least a few months to a year."

"What happened to your arms and abdomen?" He asked, looking at my cybernetic enhancements.

"Lightsaber battle scars. I was stabbed in the stomach by Lord Sorin in our final battle. And I lost my arm and hand to Darth Vader."

"You mean to tell me, that you've faced Darth Vader, and you were lucky enough to survive?!"

I nodded slowly.

"You're quite the aggressor are you?"

"I am. Back home we were known to be aggressive and viscous fighters. It seems there are things that we still use from our old lifestyle."

Yoshi and I both turned to a doorway, feeling a presence, to see little Leia leaning in watching us. She stood under the frame and leaned her head against the wall.

"It's alright Leia. Nothing's going to happen. We're not going to fight," he slowly walked toward her.

"Good," she smiled. "Does that mean were all safe too? Can we come back in?"

"Of course you can" he answered calmly.

She walked in and Organa walked behind her, his hands on her shoulders. Antilles and a few other rebels came in after them. All their eyes focused on me, Rooda, and Yoshi Raph-Elan as we stood in the aisle of the council chamber. Organa approached is in a calm manner.

"Everything is alright, I hope? No conflict between the three of you?"

"No conflict," Rooda answered Organa. "Just a conversation, an explanation for our arrival."

"We do hope to help this Alliance on Dantooine remain strong. We are sent from Yavin as reinforcements to help the Rebels here." I turned to Yoshi.

"You're both part of the Rebel Alliance?" He asked. "Interesting."

"We hope that our presence will greatly help the Rebel Alliance," Rooda said to Organa.

He nodded.

"To be honest, we need all the help we can get."

"Pardon me for asking, Senator Organa, but aren't you still needed in the Imperial Senate?" Antilles asked him.

Immediately both Rooda and I turned our heads to Organa, but we felt no signs of danger from him.

"About that, yes I am technically with the Empire, being a member of the Senate."

I raised an eyebrow.

"But with this Alliance," he continued, "I am helping to conspire against them. I hate this new tyrannical rule and how its been terrorizing systems for eight tears. That's why I'm in the Rebel Alliance. And fortunately, The Empire, they don't know where I am or what I'm doing when I'm not in the Senate on Coruscant. They even my dear daughter Leia is on their side. They don't know she is trained politically to speak against the Empire. Both Mon Mothma and I agree she has such a beautiful voice, and if she grew up a strong rebel, she would make a wonderful leader, both in politics and in the Rebel Alliance," he chuckled. "But we can't show any suspicion towards them. When I'm out there in the Imperial Senate, I have to agree with them, even if I'm really against it. I can't risk any suspicion going towards me or it will greatly affect the rest of us on Dantooine."

"The worst thing to come out of all this would be Emperor Palpatine himself being suspicious of your ideas or agreements," Yoshi Raph-Elan nodded.

"Emperor... Palpatine," I growled quietly but I know Leia heard it, because she backed away from me in fear.

"Rakine told us that Palpatine is really a Sith Lord, Darth Sidious. A really evil Sith Lord, not like Lord Venison." Rooda said to the rebels, to Yoshi, to Organa, and to Leia. "Sidious is a cruel and heartless monster, only doing what he thinks is right, even if it means ending countless innocent lives."

"He's a corrupt and heartless beast," I spoke up. "Just another one of the universe's greatest monsters."

"I agree, Lord Venison," Organa nodded, "But we cannot afford to risk saying the wrong things in the Senate."

"I'm sorry, we?" Rooda and I asked simultaneously.

"I was wondering if anyone would help me to speak in the Senate."

"We can't go," I shook my head. "If Darth Sidious, one of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy, is ruling the Empire, you can guarantee he is strong with the Force. If we went there he could sense the Force in both of us. Me I'm a Sith too, and Rooda is already learning the ways of the Force. If we went there, and Sidious begins to call us out, because he knows what we are, what a threat I was to him some time ago, and how our presence there even shows that something's up, it won't be long before people start pointing negatively to you, Senator Organa."

He nodded, acknowledging the facts that our presence would mean the end of the Rebel Alliance on Dantooine. The poor Senator might be alone on this one.

"Nevertheless, we must act quickly, but not be too hasty in the Senate," Organa nodded slowly. "I can try to contact Mon Mothma to help me speak in the Senate. She is a wise political thinker and a powerful political speaker. If we can try to call of any further invasions and negotiate to the Senate why we believe it is wrong, maybe we can get at least a few agreements on our side of the conflict."

"It's a bold move," Yoshi shook his head slowly, knowing if it failed, it would have imminent disaster follow.

"How bout this?" A rebel walked over to us. He was a tall man, at least in his mid-fifties, with a small scar on the right of his chin and an eyepatch over his left eye. His hair was black and balding at the front, his hair turned gray above his ears, and his body had a very muscular build and he held a brown quiver in one hand.

"Yes, Corporal Shirante?" Organa asked the man.

"For now, Senator Organa, you will go to Coruscant with no troubles, and with Mon Mothma to help speak alongside you. The rest will be sorted out soon. All that matters now is that you speak out there and try to increase chance of rebellion against the Empire, creating as little suspicion as possible. And if anything does happen to you while you're out there, just contact me and any reinforcement will come to aid you."

Organa nodded.

"Then I will make contact with Mon Mothma of Yavin." He walked out the council chamber and headed down one hall to another part of the base.

Rooda and I looked at each other.

"That whole plan itself is suspicious Corporal," Yoshi looked at the rebel.

"As long as they give away little to no information on the rebellion, then you may hope that this Alliance never dies." Shirante chuckled and pat Yoshi's back. "I would expect a Jedi to be wise enough to know that."

I glared slowly at Shirante.

"You shouldn't ever insult a man's wisdom, even a Jedi's," I said quietly. "You're lucky he doesn't use the Force on you right now."

Rooda chuckled and Shirante turned to me, raising his empty hand and pointing at me accusingly.

"You are in no position nor do you have any authority to give me such mockery. You may be one of us rebels now, you may be a Sith Lord and all, but guess what? You're in my base now." As he looked sharply at me his eyelid twitched as I continued to glare darkly at him. "Wipe that smug look of your face newbie! You are to treat us fellow rebels with the upmost respect, because we are at war against the Empire. And in war, there will be no complaining or whining to me or anyone else in this here facility. Got it newbie?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Patience Corporal, you're not a general yet," Yoshi smirked. "Take it easy on the new ones too. Remember he is a Sith Lord, and like me, we are capable of some unnatural power in the Force."

"Enough of your wizard words, Raph-Elan. Your dead Jedi religion or your Sith abilities don't scare me one bit. Not even with this almighty Force you keep blabbering on about."

I could feel Yoshi himself as he grew angered by these harsh words. I held a hand out to Shirante with the Force and waved my cybernetic fingers at him.

"You will respect us Jedi and Sith for our power," I say to him in a slow and calm voice.

Shirante began to hold his head in his hands, the quiver hung in one hand by his temple, as he tried to resist my control over his mind.

"I will-" he interrupted himself, cutting off the mind manipulation. "Now what're you trying to do boy? Whatever it is, it won't work on me-"

"You will respect us Jedi and Sith for our power," I say to him again.

He backed away slowly, holding his head more, and he backed into a table. He almost moaned.

"I will respect-" he groaned and continued to try resisting against my control. "Now cut that out, newbie. It's just creepy."

I roll my eyes and use more Force on him, he takes another step back.

"You will respect us Jedi and Sith for our power," I say one more time and I watch as he gets up. He slowly takes his hands off his head and sighs.

"I will respect you Jedi and Sith for your power," Shirante nodded submissively and kneeled.

"Okay that's all we needed to hear, Corporal," I point upwards as he stands back up. "Stand up."

He stood back up and rubbed the back of his head, dropping the brown quiver in his hand. As it hit the floor, a large blaster rolled out of the top end. Shirante picked up his gun and I held the quiver. He looked at me as he stuck his gun to his belt.

"You want it, you can have it. That quiver was used to carry my weapons, but that thing's caused me too much trouble in battle."

"How so?" I asked him.

"Every narrow escape I made from a battle, this thing always snags onto something. I can't get with that over my upper body. I'm much too large." He looked down at his muscular body. "I'm lucky to even be here if it weren't for that damn quiver."

"I'll take it," Rooda rose one hand slowly as she spoke quietly. "I've been looking for something to carry my lightspear."

"Do you still have it?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"It's back home on Ikana, in the cave. Right where I left all our stuff.

"Good, maybe you'll have better use for that quiver than I do," Shirante nodded slowly. "With that thin body, I don't think you'll have any trouble with it."

"Oh-" Rooda looked down to her waist and put her hands on her sides. "Thank you." She then took Shirante's quiver and put it on, it rest over her right shoulder and wrapped around her left waist.

I turned to Corporal Shirante and then to Yoshi Raph-Elan as he sat up from a chair.

"Would you be willing to give Rooda and I a tour of the rest of this rebel base?"

Yoshi nodded.

"But of course." He motioned Rooda and I to follow him. "This way please."

He left the council chamber and walked down a hallway back to the central elevator chamber of the rebel base. The four of us stepped in an elevator and the elevator lowered down deeper underground. As we descended I looked around and saw multiple floors full of rebel soldiers behind the glass walls. There were large training centers for hand-to-hand combat, sharpshooting, and even simple training in lightsaber combat. When we reach the training floor, the elevator stops and I watch as two rebel soldiers walking down a hallway toward us enter and nod respectfully at Shirante's presence. Two men at least in their mid-thirties stood in front of us one slightly shorter than both Rooda and I. The shorter one had blond buzzcut hair and the taller one had short brown hair and a light brown mustache and goatee. They looked at us with a nod.

"You must be the two deer rebels we've heard so much about," the brown-headed rebel said in a quiet tone.

I nodded and Corporal Shirante introduced the men to us.

"These are two of my best soldiers in the Galactic Civil War. This young man is Gaarer," he said and the tall brown-haired rebel nodded his head and shook shook my cybernetic hand and then Rooda's soft hoofed hand quietly.

Rooda and I nodded to him.

"And Nattha," Shirante continued.

The blond-haired man shook our hands.

"It's an honor to meet you." Nattha smiled to us.

The elevator continued downward and we kept looking at the large training ares for the rebel soldiers. The training centers also contained many cafeterias, medical chambers, and living quarters and resting areas for the soldiers when they stopped training.

"It's like a massive living center," Rooda looked at the large training area with awe.

"It is where we house, feed, and train our rebel soldiers here," Shirante nodded slowly. "Here they live in peace and we provide the best hospitality for them. When we aren't in battle it is quite a luxurious experience."

"Makes me wonder, they do get full training here, yes?" I asked Nattha.

"Training is mandatory in our daily activities. At least one or two hours for each session. We get lunch breaks between session depending on how long they are."

"What happens after your men train for a day?"

"We're free to do as we please, but we cannot risk to go outside or do anything to expose this base to the Empire," Gaarer said to us. "We are like well cared for children, staying indoors from the harshness of the outside world."

I nodded slowly.

The elevator kept going down into a large circular office where many other rebels were looking at large charts and maps of the galaxy. I carefully look at the holographic image of the galaxy as the Imperial advances are highlighted in red. They've been expanding from central core of the galaxy to the galactic north, stopping at the boundary of Wild Space, just outside the Kommaden system. New regions have been taken, they've been expanding across the border of Wild Space, surrounding the west, the regions the rebels of Kommaden help to protect from the grip of the Empire. I hear few voices murmur as people check the map of the galaxy.

"The Empire is planning total war in the west-"

"It won't be long before they take the whole galaxy."

"We must retaliate."

"We must fight back."

"They're near to reaching the Toger system in Wild Space."

Rooda and I looked to each other then she looked back into the planning room.

"The Toger system?" I asked as I turned to Yoshi Raph-Elan.

"Yes, the Toger system is in danger of the Empire it seems. It is a small planet system just past the border to Wild Space, in the far galactic southwest."

"Is there anything important on that planet that we need to protect?" Rooda asked.

Shirante put one hand on his chin to think.

"Not much people there," Nattha spoke up. "They do fight though, they defend their land, provide many weapons, like the people of Kommaden. The terrain of Toger had lots of sharp mountains on the surface though. My guess is the Empire is planning on building a large base there for easier invasions of the galactic west."

"We must stop them," Gaarer mumbled. "We can't let the Empire take over the whole galaxy."

Shirante nodded.

"I shall see what we can do to stop the Empire from expanding. I fear that we cannot do well, and we must contact another rebel base, one much closer, for them to get to check the system."

We all walked into the room and the elevator close behind us. Rooda, Gaarer, and I stood against the wall while Shirante, Nattha, and Yoshi Raph-Elan checked the galactic map.

"Yavin," I answered. "There is a base on Yavin. That's where Rooda and I came from. Where Mon Mothma communicates to Senator Organa from."

Shirante shook his head confused.

"Yavin is the same distance from Toger as we are. It's odd."

Yoshi turned to me.

"A team should go to Toger and liberate it for the Alliance before the Empire does."

I turned to Rooda and then back to the holographic map of the galaxy.

"What about a team from the Kommaden system? They remain loyal to our cause. Maybe a team from there can help search Toger."

"Good, maybe. But who could go to the Kommaden system to tell them of the Empire's plans to invade Toger?" Shirante turned up to me from the map.

"Who said we could go there when we could message the Kommaden High Council? They might know what to do."

I took my communicator and tossed it to Gaarer as he took activated it, hoping to sending a message to Kommaden. A holographic image of a council member appears.

"The Empire is planning on invading the galactic southwest, near Wild Space," I spoke to the council member. "It won't be long before they take the Toger system and expand through the south."

"The Toger system?" The council member asked in worry.

"We are hoping that the system will be well protected by your forces," I said to the image.

"We will try our best to help the Togera defend their home planet," the holographic image nodded and faded, the communicator turned off and Gaarer handed it back to me.

"Kommaden is going to aid Toger," Rooda turned to Shiratne and Yoshi.

"We may hope that they are up to the challenge," Yoshi folded his arms, feeling a sense of worry. "I fear that the Empire will hit Toger much harder than it hit Kommaden." He turned to me. "I don't know if their army can defend Toger successfully. We might need to send a stronger force to aid them."

"Should I go?" I asked.

"I don't know," he shrugged.

I looked to Nattha as I notice him looking down at my cybernetic hand then my whole left arm.

"What is it Nattha?" Gaarer asked him.

"His cybernetics," Nattha rubbed his bald chin, "they intrigue me. We have something for them."

"For these?" I asked him.

Nattha and Gaarer both nod.

"We can make replacement cybernetics that will look real like your natural limbs, if you want."

"How can you do that?" Rooda asked.

"We can copy the way your arms look and build cybernetic parts to replace his old set," Nattha grinned.

"Where did you get these cybernetics anyway?" Shirante asked.

"I was treated by a droid on Polis Massa, after I lost my limbs to Darth Vader."

"That explains the silver metallic look," Nattha said. "You don't want to look like a droid do you? Especially with those claws."

I looked down to my cybernetic hands self-consciously, examining the long fingers resembling claws. Rooda puts her soft hand on my cold metal shoulder.

"Don't worry newbie," Shirante chuckled. "Believe us when we say, when we get these new cybernetics installed you will look just like your old self."

I looked to Rooda as she smiled. Then I turned back to them with a grin.

"I think we would like that."

Gaarer and Nattha nod.

"Would you like to come with us to the medical suite now? So you can at least get the cybernetics started for your future replacement?"

I looked to both Yoshi and Shirante as they continued planning at the holographic map. Yoshi looked back at us.

"Go on ahead, Lord Venison. The rebel soldiers will show you around the base."

I turn back to Nattha and nod, and both the rebel soldiers walked into the elevator and both Rooda and I stood behind them. The elevator rose up into the large training area and stopped. We all walked out and headed to the medical suite to get checked in. Nattha walks up to a counter and looks at one of the nurses.

"We would like a cybernetic replacement, for-" Nattha looks back to me then to the nurse. "For Lord Venison, the new rebel."

The nurse nodded and walked out from behind the counter.

"And what seems to be the trouble with these cybernetics, Lord Venison?"

I look at the cybernetic hands and sigh.

"They're not functioning like they used to. They've gotten stiff on me. I would like new replacement cybernetics, a set that doesn't look like these metal hunks of junk. Something that looks real, like a part of me."

"Like prosthetics?" She asked.

Gaarer nodded.

"Right then," the nurse walked to a pair of doors. "Right this way please."

She opened the doors that led into a hallway, and she beckoned for us to follow. One by one, we each walked past the nurse through the doorway into the hall. The nurse closed the door behind us.


	6. Chapter 6

We all continued walking down the hallway of the medical suite and I looked to Nattha, the rebel soldier who helped us in here.

"Don't worry, Lord Venison. The prosthetics made here are manufactured by professionals."

I nodded and all four of us turn to one side and see a rebel soldier laying in a stretcher, his forehead wrapped up in bloody bandages and his left eye gouged out. He kept holding his empty eye socket screaming and trying hold all the blood in. His fingers were stained crimson and blood slowly dropped down his left cheek as he tried containing all his blood. I waved a hand to him with the Force as I try to help relieve the poor man of his pain. I continue using the Force as we walked by him, slowly relieving him of his horrendous pain as his screaming began to slowly subside. I notice what I am doing to him as the Dark Side of my Force is controlled by my fear. My fear for whatever happened to the poor man, whatever caused him to lose an eye. My Force helps the man to hold the blood in his head so he doesn't go pale, so he doesn't lose too much blood and die. And from that I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm stopping the man from dying. When we continue down the hall and the man's stretcher is taken into the emergency section of the reel base's hospital, I turn ahead and see Rooda and Nattha both looking back at me.

"What did you just do to that man?" Rooda asked.

I looked back at where I helped heal the man who lost an eye, then turned back to her.

"I just helped to stop him from dying," I said quietly.

"That was the Dark Side of the Force, was it?"

I nodded slowly.

"How did you tell?" I asked her.

"I could feel your fear," she said as she turned ahead and the nurse walked into another department of the medical suite.

The nurse opened a door labelled "Cybernetics" and motioned us to follow. Gaarer held the door open and the rest of us walked through. We were in a whole new place, with mannequins standing tall and sitting in hospital beds. Many of their limbs were replaced with metal, cybernetic enhancements to replace their amputations. We walked down a hall and heard screaming as we passed a room. I look in the corner of my eye to see a man laying in a bed screaming as medical droids held him down and started screwing a cybernetic forearm into his flesh. He kept howling and thrashing and trying to fight back, and the pain that we both felt from it was insufferable. I felt the physical pain that he's gone through and I wave at him with the Force, to help and stop him from dying, to keep him out of the light, if of course that's what it felt like to him. He turns his head to me and I wave to him again with the Force and I manage to calm him down. His entire arm goes completely asleep and the pain he feels, the stinging in his elbow and arm, the pain we both feel is gone. The droids continue to work on him to help replace the arm he had lost, and he no longer struggles to break free. He is as pacified as a young and tired baby. I turn back to Rooda and she stares at me.

"That is an amazing power," she managed to smile. "I wish I could help people like you do."

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders.

"It's not that amazing."

"But you're helping these people that you see. They're no longer in pain whenever you walk by them, and it's because you use the Force."

"To stop them from dying?"

Rooda nodded.

The nurse led us into a small hospital room and sat me on the hospital bed. As she set a clipboard on the counter, I sat down and looked at my cybernetic limbs.

"How are we going to remove these in the first place?" Rooda asked the nurse.

"We aren't going to yet. For now we plan on making him new cybernetics to replace these old ones. But if you want your limbs to look and feel exactly like your original limbs, like you never lost them in the first place,"

I nodded.

"Then we need to copy a few things. Give me your right arm."

I lifted my right arm and she grabbed my wrist with one hand, then felt my forearm with the other. She slowly rubbed her fingers across my thick skin and short, soft fur, feeling my arm entirely. She would continue to rub my arm and press on certain parts of it, nodding slowly, picking up every detail she could on my arm. She let go and began to write down notes on the clipboard in the counter. She then grabbed a roll of measuring tape and wrapped it around my wrist. She took it off and walked to the desk and picked up her clipboard, then wrote down a number. She set the clipboard down and came back, wrapping the measuring tape around the center of my forearm, between my wrist and elbow. She took the tape off and wrote another number on the clipboard. She came back and did the same the center of my arm, around my elbow. Then she wrote a number down. Measured my upper arm. Wrote another number down. She took the measuring tape and wrapped it around my lower shoulder, nodded and wrote the number down. She came back and started feeling my right shoulder, rubbing my skin and fur, nodding slowly and proceeding to write down notes under the column of numbers.

"That's a lot of information about you I have written down. I can figure out so much just by looking at your arm."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I simply felt your arm, to see what your prosthetic replacement would be like. It was necessary for me to measure parts of your arm and feel your skin and muscles so we can manage to make an exact copy of your right arm so that we may proceed to make a prosthetic left arm to replace your old cybernetics."

I nodded slowly.

"What are we going to do about my hands, though? I lost both of my natural hands, so you don't have anything of mine to copy."

Rooda stood next to me and I turned to her.

"You could copy my hands," she said to the nurse.

"Yours?" She asked. "But-"

"We are the same species. Our hands looked practically the same anyway. All that needs to be done is make your copies a bit bigger and give him slightly darker color."

I nod.

"She's got it right. That's exactly what my hands looked like in the past."

The nurse nodded and took Rooda's hand, measuring its size, and she measured each of her three hoofed fingers by their length. She nodded and wrote down the measurements on the clipboard and wrote "Hands" above them. She began to write more notes.

"Slightly larger size, and darker color."

Rooda and I both nod and I stand up.

"That's about all the measurements and facts that you need for the prosthetics right?"

The nurse checked the clipboard.

"Well, for your hand and arm yes. But what about your head?" She pointed at my antler-sabers with the pen in her hand. "You want a prosthetic pair of antlers to replace those ones, hm?"

"Well, these are special. They- they are a weapon I can use in battle."

"A weapon? How so?"

I sighed and motioned everybody to stand back. Everybody stood around me in a circle as I groaned to myself. I tried to anger myself by thinking of my desperate choice to even become a Sith, back on Hoth when I met Sorin. I clenched my cybernetic hands into fists and I felt my anger as it controlled my weapons. My antler-sabers ignited and the eight long, black blades stuck out of the metallic saber wedges that were surgically implanted in the back and top of my head.

"Anger-" I groaned. "My antlers are powered by my anger."

Nattha and Gaarer nodded.

"But wouldn't it be much simpler to just hold them in your hands to use them as a weapon?" Nattha chuckled.

"These were to replace my natural born antlers," I sighed.

"We can make you a prosthetic pair. We can fix up your head, surgically and professionally remove those weapons, and make you a new prosthetic pair if antlers to make your natural look more- well- natural."

I turned to Rooda and she nodded slowly.

"Remember Venny, the choice is yours and yours alone. You chose to wear those, now you can choose to fix yourself."

I thought about the choice presented before me and sighed. I pressed a small switch on the antler-sabers' main wedge to completely deactivate them, so they don't turn on by surprise.

"Okay," I mumbled quietly. "All right."

I turn to the quiet soldier Gaarer as he nods in approval.

"So this is our final decision?" The nurse asked. "You wish for a natural look for your head?"

I nodded slowly, my eyes closed as I faced the ground.

"But you don't need to make a full pair of antlers. Just remove these from my head and help mend the wounds in my head. These things left some damage done to me, both physical and mental, and I want to be free of the pain." I muttered under my breath, to myself. "I'm so sorry Karus. These are a wonderful gift, but I have no use for them in my head anymore."

I listen quietly as I both feel and hear his presence.

"But you've almost never even used them," Karus' voice chuckled. "Barely in your fights with the Inquisitor or against Vader."

I began to speak to Karus through the Force.

"I know, but that means they're still in perfect condition, for further use. Besides I don't think I'll ever have a use for them anyway."

"But if you won't use them-"

"I will find another use for them. Maybe Rakine can use them."

"As a weapon, Lord Venison."

I nodded.

"As handheld weapons. You know and I know his skill in lightsaber combat. He will be perfect."

Karus' voice chuckles again.

"You are right, Ven. Rakine is good, no denying it."

"Then I will give him these?"

"Do as you wish. They are your sabers."

Karus' voice never spoke after that. His presence had completely faded. I looked at everyone around me as they stared in confusion. Rooda walked to me and rest a hand on my shoulder.

"Karus," she said quietly. "I felt him too."

We both stood there silently thinking about how Karus came to us. Then Gaarer broke the silence by clearing his throat.

"Your head," he muttered quietly. "What do you intend to do for a replacement?"

"I'll have these removed from my head. And I wish to have the rest healed by your best professional medics. I have decided that I would like to have my original antlers grow back out."

"But Ven-" Rooda coughed. "Your natural antlers may have been destroyed. Your cybernetics are implanted to your skull. How can you possibly grow anything back? How will you even get those things out?"

"I think the Force can help me," I closed my eyes and held my arms up, feeling the Force around me. I started slowly pulling the antler-sabers by the wedges with the Force and the tips of the wedges slowly slips out of my head and slowly unscrew off the bolts. I use my telekinesis to hold the antler-sabers in the air as the bolts slowly twist out of my head and into the air. I groan as they pull out and fall to the floor, drops of blood bounce off the as they hit the floor and they clatter on the floor. I stop using the Force and hold my cybernetic hands open to catch the falling antler-saber wedges. I open my eyes and look to the nurse.

"The sabers have been removed."

She nodded and walked over to see the holes in the back of my head where the bolts were screwed in.

"It will be difficult to fix this," she muttered and motioned me to lay down.

I nodded and laid down on the hospital bed on my stomach and she turned the overhead light on. She turned to Gaarer and Nattha.

"Assemble the best medics here to help me to repair his head. We need to heal the head wounds quickly before it gets infected from long-term exposure."

Gaarer nods and runs out of the room down the hallway. Rooda and Nattha sat down in two chairs in the corner of the room and stare as the nurse continues examining my head wounds. Rooda took her communicator from her rope belt and opened it, a holographic image of Rakine appears.

"Rooda, what is Dantooine like? How is the base?"

"It's wonderful, Rakine. It's a lot bigger than Yavin's."

His image nodded.

"Where is Lord Venison?"

"He's in operation right now," Rooda said calmly to Rakine.

"What?! What happened? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He's getting his cybernetics replaced with realistic prosthetics."

"Well, not yet," the nurse chuckled.

Gaarer came back into the room with a rebel doctor, a professional in prosthetics and cybernetics. He examined the back of my head carefully.

"There is no possible way for you to gradually grow back any antlers naturally. It's impossible."

I sighed in disappointment.

"We might be able to make prosthetics and surgically insert them in to take their place."

"If that is our only option, then I think that would at least be preferable."

The medic nodded and another rebel walked in. He was a simple medic, not dressed in a professional suit or coat. He was a shorter man, like Nattha, but the similarities ended there. He had short black hair brushed forward, and he had dark brown eyes with small folds. His skin was an olive complexion, and his nose was slightly sunken in at the top between the eyes.

"This is Bolt, my assistant," the rebel doctor glanced at the man. "He is here to help with our operation here."

I sat up and Bolt shook my hand warmly, a smile on his face.

"We all heard a lot about you," Bolt said as he shook my hand.

"Lots of good things or bad things?" Rooda asked.

"He saved the Kommaden system, twice," Bolt grinned. "He seems might heroic enough."

"What are they going to do to my head now?" I asked.

"Right now, were going to simply examine the inner wounds where your sabers were implanted, make sure nothing is wrong internally."

He took a small flashlight and motioned me to lean forward so he can check inside.

"Interesting, these drill shaped stubs were surgically drilled in?"

"Into my antler bone, where they connected to my skull," I nodded. "There shouldn't be much damage other than hollowed bone."

"And that is exactly what I see here. Although, the bottoms do appear to be bleeding a little, having those drills being recently removed. All we need to do is calm the inside, stop the blood flow to prevent further internal bleeding, and you'll be all set. Soon you'll be ready for operation, for your prosthetic replacements."

I nodded and watched as the doctor grabbed two white tissues and he motions me to lean forward. He slowly inserts the tissues in the holes in my antlers and starts gently swabbing, wiping out any wet blood. He pulled the tissues out and threw them into a garbage disposal, then he began filling the holes with an almost liquid white matter.

"What is this?" I asked.

"This is a liquid bone marrow. With this we can restore the inside of your head to its normal state. But for now we must wait for it to condense and solidify, and then your natural antlers may be restored."

The doctor finished pouring the liquid marrow and he looked to me.

"Now that marrow is going to dry pretty quickly. So be careful not to touch it."

I nodded.

"You said you want these new prosthetics to look as realistic as possible?" The doctor asked as he put the container of liquid marrow on the counter and turned to me.

I nod again and I began to feel the marrow begin to dry.

"The nurse has made all the measurements and written all the notes required. But for looks, you may need to keep visual representations of us. My right arm, Rooda's hands, they will be used to show how real these prosthetics should look."

Bolt nodded slowly and motioned Rooda and I to stand up.

"Follow me please," he walked out the door and down the hall a few doors down. He opened the door and walked towards a cylindrical machine. The top opened and the cylinder split in half, the open end facing us. There was a flat bed-like platform was inside the cylinder.

"What is this?" Rooda asked.

"This is a copy pod, a machine designed to photographically copy the body and give us every little detail we need on the body before we start constructing the prosthetic replacements. All you need to do is lay on the bed inside it, I will close the pod and the machine will start making notes on your three-dimensional appearance. With this we will be able to read as much as we can so we may make an accurate and realistic replacement for your left arm."

"So I just lay on that?" I looked to the bed.

I notice Bolt look down at Rooda's legs and her hoofed feet and ten to her hands, how her three fingers are the same dark shade as her hooves on her feet.

"Yes. But before you start climbing in, please take off your boots."

I looked down at my black, knee-high boots.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because we may need the machine to analyze your feet too. For your prosthetic hands, if we are to get the color of your hands correctly, we need to get visual of your hoofed feet."

I looked back down to my boots and bent down to grab the boot legs and slowly take them off my hoofed feet. I lifted a leg and took the boot off, dropping it to the ground and proceeding to take off the other. As I remove the boots off my feet, the legs of my pants fall to my ankles and I set both boots down on the floor.

"Is that all you need?" I asked Bolt, feeling my antler base and feeling that the marrow has completely dried already. I slowly walked to a mirror and turned my head to the side, examining what's become of my natural antlers, and I am amazed by the results. It looks just as if Rakine has cut them off, like back on Coruscant in the Jedi Temple.

"You may climb into the pod now," he nodded.

I nodded and walked slowly to the pod and felt the cold metal bed with my cybernetic hand, I opened the pod's horizontal door higher and slowly propped myself onto the bed and lay flat on my back. I felt my back, the back of my right arm, my feet, and the back of my head get colder as I lay flat on the metal bed. I turned my head to see Bolt grab the horizontal door.

"One more thing. Don't move. It will disturb the analyzing."

I turned my head so I faced straight up and Bolt lowered the door and closed the pod, leaving me in the cold and confined darkness. I felt the machine as it started on, a bright light flashed above me as I hear a small whirring begin outside the pod. I knew the machine started and it was about to read me and my physical appearance like I'm an open book. The bright light turned off and I was in the dark again. I tried not to move my head as I watched a small mechanical arc come off the farther side of the pod closest to my feet. A blue laser light turned on inside the frame of the arc as it slowly moved towards me. The laser light was shining on my hoofed feet and then the arc slowly moved up to my ankles and it starts shining on my black pants. The arc continued up my waist where the metal plates on my abdomen begins, and it started scanning both my arms at my sides and the plates covering my stomach. The blue laser light turned red as it picked up my metallic plates and my cybernetic hands, and as it continued up to my chest, the red slowly faded back to blue. The arc had just reach my neck and shoulders when the light completely returns to blue and I try not to move a muscle when it moves over my face, the blue light flashing in my face and in my eyes. It finished over my forehead and ears and as it reached the other end past me, it stopped against the other side and turned off.

I hear the horizontal door open and Bolt motions me to come out. I move out from the pod and stand back up to grab my boots. As I put both boots back on, Bolt turned to Rooda.

"Your turn."

She slowly walked to the pod and started climbing in and laying on her back. She turns to Bolt.

"Keep your hands flat on the bed, so that it may scan successfully."

She nods and her hands lay flat on the metal bed, her fingers separated. As he closes the pod's door, the machine starts up again. I turn to my left and see on a large screen, a three dimensional figure of myself appears from above, laying flat on its back. The metal plates around my stomach, the cybernetic hands and arm all highlighted in red as the figure of my body was a solid white. On another screen many long paragraphs of words flash by. I turn back to the pod and then back to the screens and on a separate screen, I see a flat figure of Rooda appear as well. More paragraphs full of information about her begin to flash by on another screen and when I turn back to Bolt, he starts to slowly nod.

"The information we need is in there. All we need from her are her hands. For your replacement limbs."

I nodded.

"I know."

I turn back to the pod as it stops and Bolt opens the door. He helps her out of the pod and walks to the four screens. He starts to read and removes any irrelevant information, summarizing down to all information on Rooda's hands and my right arm.

"That's all we need for now."

He nods and sticks a small circular device in a metal box. The information starts to transfer into his disc and when all is fully transferred, he takes it and turns it on and opens it, a holographic image of my right arm appears in the air. All of it's details are present, from the shoulder to the wrist.

"Image solidify," Bolt says to the device as the image solidifies from a hologram to a perfect visual image of my right arm. All my short fur covering my skin is visible and even the black spider dye covering my forearm has been scanned. "Image invert," he says to it and the image itself reverses from a right arm into the shape of a left arm.

"That's perfect," I chuckle.

Bolt twists a small knob and two holographic images of both Rooda's hands are visible.

"Image solidify."

The image solidifies and all the solid colors condensed, from her three hoofed fingers, to the backs and palms of her hands. Bolt starts to use the small screen on the device to edit the images of Rooda's hands. He slightly darkened the colors of her hoofed fingers to my darker hoof color with the information on my hoofed feet. A holographic image of a figure appears and the three images of my arm and Rooda's hands all move into the place of left arm and the hands of the image. Bolt nods slowly as he watches the image finish forming and he turns the device off. He turns to us with a grin.

"Thank you both for your help here. We have all the information we need so that we may start constructing the prosthetic limbs. I will deliver this to the medics and the inventors of this base and maybe you will have these replacements done quickly."

I nod and look at Rooda, then I see the rebel doctor from earlier walk in.

"Has the scanning been completed?" He asked.

Bolt nods and walks past us, to him with the device. He turned it on and showed him the holographic image with the complete prosthetic designs."

"You two are ready to leave now," the doctor looked to us with a nod. "Thank you for your time and help here."

We both nod and walk out the door and back down the hallway to the exit of the medical suite. Both Gaarer and Nattha walk down the hall and catch up to us.

"So how did it go?" Nattha asked.

"It's going perfectly," I grin.

"Now that your prosthetic designs are completely a sent in, they're going to show the designs to the engineers, the inventors, the people who help to make the cybernetics here."

I nod.

"How long will it take them to make the prosthetics?" Rooda asked.

"I cannot say," Gaarer said to us. "These things do take a log time. Especially if its going to look as realistic as possible.

"Wait," the nurse walked behind us as we all turns to her. "You have submitted the designs, but do you want the black on your forearm?" She pointed down to my forearm, where the fur is stained in dye extracted from the venom of ticking desert spiders back on Zant.

"If you can help us get this black dye off of us-?" I asked.

She nodded

"We have been able to clean spray paint messes and blood stains, and even stains said to be permanent. Your dye problem will be easily taken care of."

I thought about how back on Zant, when Rooda and I were young warriors in training, and when we had reached adulthood, Chief Tzano used the black dye to cover both our forearms, and our leg calves, and even by back. The black on the body was said to ward off evil, in ancient Zant folklore. But now we don't need primitive dye to ward off evil. We have already abandoned the tradition of our village a long time ago. Now we have our weapons and the Rebel Alliance to deal with the Empire.

I turned to Rooda.

"We already abandoned our ancient tradition a long time ago. We no longer rely on our former primitive lifestyle. Do you think we still need these black marks on our bodies to try and "ward off evil" like the ancient stories said?"

"I guess you're right," she looked back to me. "Maybe we don't need this black dye anymore."

"So you want to clean yourself of that dye?" Gaarer asked us.

"Okay," Rooda nodded. "But where do we go if we are to clean our bodies from this black mess?"


	7. Chapter 7

"The shower rooms were not what I had in mind," Rooda looked to me slightly annoyed by the medical nurse's request. "How is water going to remove this dye? The same dye that the Zan-Deer back on Zant even claimed would permanently stain our fur-covered bodies?"

"I don't know," I shrugged as we walked to the shower room of the rebel base's living quarters. "Maybe this dye really doesn't permanently stain and is easily washed off?"

I opened the door to the shower rooms and we walked into a large hallway, with tiles lining the floors and walls, and multiple doors leading into each of the individual showers.

"How would you know that, Eyt?" Rooda asked me confused.

"Because we never even touched water, Rooda," I shook my head chuckling. "There is no water in the desert of Zant, and the miners had to search for it underground. And when have we ever stuck our dyed limbs in water anyway?"

I opened one door and looked around inside the room, Rooda closely following behind me. Rooda and I walked into another room, a square shaped room with a counter against the wall, with neatly folded towels on it. I turned to the other side of the room and see a cylindrical shower with a translucent, cylindrical glass door. I opened the shower door and looked in the tiled shower, then turned to Rooda behind me as she sat on the countertop.

"You don't mind if I-" I looked at her and she shook her head.

"Right," she chuckled nervously.

She covered her eyes with her large deer ears and I turned back to the shower. I took off my black boots and dropped them on the floor, and I stepped inside the small cylinder. I looked down at my pants, took off my belt, taking my darksaber and my holographic communicator off the belt then set both on the floor next to my boots. Turning back to Rooda, she still covered her eyes, and I closed the glass door behind me, she turned into a blurry shadow through the translucent glass. I then pulled the pants from my waist and my deer-like tail, down to my ankles, lifting my legs out of the leg holes and threw both my belt and my pants over the shower door and they hung over the top. I reached for the remains of my white uniform from Hoth, now it was only a simple covering for my lower half. I took the white uniform off and threw that over the top of the shower door too. Now I had nothing left on, and I turned the shower's knob slowly and water started to shoot out of the shower head above. The water came down and landed on my back and my head, and I felt the drops slowly move down my back and down my tail. I looked down at the floor as the drops fell off my naked body and I stared down as small black drops fell off my back and tail, and hit the white tiles below. I looked back up at the shower head and the water hit my face, and I felt the dye around my eyes start to melt into liquid and run down my cheeks. I rubbed the top of my nose slowly and felt the dye coming off of my face, in drops of black water falling to the floor.

"The dye comes off!" I called out to Rooda over the shower wall, and when I turned my head to her I noticed one of her ears slowly lifted in the air, to hear me.

I continued to rub the dye off of my body, rubbing my face and feeling the sprinkling of the shower above hit my face in little splashes. The black dye continues to melt off and fall to the floor and I starts to rub all the black dye off my eyelids and around my eyes. I looked down and opened my eyes, looking back at my cybernetic hands, seeing the black dye run down the metallic fingers. I held my hands out under the water, collecting as much as I can, melting the dye off my cybernetics, and then I splashed my face with the water, and all the black dye drips down to my chin and falls off my face. I continued to splash my face and chin, feeling all the black dye slowly move down my body as I cleaned myself, rinsing my face clean of the dye. I looked down to the drain in the floor to see all the blackened water slowly gurgling down the drain. I turn my head to see Rooda's figure stand up, pick something up off the countertop, and slowly walk over to the shower door. She stopped and threw a towel up into the wall of the shower, over my pants and belt. Then Rooda turned back to the counter and start walking back, she stops and her head slowly turns back, then she stops and keeps walking, eventually sitting back on the countertop.

I chuckled and shook my head as I continued to rub the black dye off of my body, with my left arm I rub all the black dye off my right forearm and rinsing my arm in the water until not a drop of black is left on my arm.

"How's that shower working for you?" Rooda asked as she sat on the countertop.

"You should try it."

I chuckled again as I rinsed my upper body from the shower. I looked down the calves of my legs to see the black dye dripping down my ankles to my hoofed feet. I started rinsing my legs to get the dye off and I bent forward, the water from the shower head hitting my back and melting off all the dye on my back. I watch as the falling drops from my back continue to turn black and fall to the tiled floor and into the drain. I felt the metal plates around my abdomen, stuck four of my metal fingers between the plates, and slowly pulled them apart at my stomach, opening them and sighing in relief. I felt my sore stomach for the first time after being trapped under those metal plates for so long, and I noticed no scar on my body. I felt no pain in my body anymore either. The stab wound that I had received on Hoth was completely gone. But how? It should've at least left a scar.

I tossed the metal plates over the shower wall and heard them both clatter on the tiled floor outside the shower.

"You alright in there?" I hear Rooda's voice.

"Yeah," I answered her. "I'm fine."

I continued to rub all the black dye out of my furry pelt, I stood under the shower head and felt as the water kept hitting by back and my hips. I made a cup with my hands and poured more water down onto my back, and I turned to the floor to watch many streams of black water going down the drain. I walked to the towel hung over the wall and dried my face with it, I noticed small wet black marks rubbed onto the towel. I started rubbing my right forearm dry with the towel and getting off any black smudges from my pelt onto the towel. I pulled the towel off the wall of the shower and rubbed my back and hips, then my leg calves, and I looked to the mirror on the side of the shower wall and looked at myself. All the black dye that used to live on my body had been completely washed away. Nothing left on my arms, legs, my back or hips, even the facial dye had been washed off. I've never looked so normal in such a long time. I turned off the shower head by twisting the knob.

I took the towel, dried my head and arms, then wrapped it tightly around my waist and opened the shower door. Rooda's eyes immediately fix on me and she is helpless to stare, admiringly, refusing to look away, and I saw her blush as she stared at me. I can't help but chuckle as I grab my clothing from the shower wall and my boots and things from the floor.

"Wow, Eyt, you look like a whole new stag."

"Do I?" I asked as I walked to the counter and set my belt on the countertop.

"I guess I should try that, should I? If it helped get the dye off of you, then-"

"Don't worry," I chuckled. "It's just water. It'll be fine."

She grabbed a new, clean, folded towel off the countertop walked to the shower, tossing it over the shower wall and stepping in. She closed the door behind her, she turned into a black shadow through the shower wall as she turned the shower head on. I watched as she took the brown quiver off her right shoulder and up her left waist to throw it over her head and over the shower wall onto the tiled floor just outside the shower. She the looked down at large cloak and pulled it over her head and she tossed it over the shower wall, the cape sinking down to the floor below. She looked down to her rope belt the. The rope tied to it over her shoulder. The rope belt she wears around her waist is tied to this shoulder rope to keep it up on her body without falling. The belt is used to hold her pair of curved lightsabers on her person at all times. She grabbed the rope over her left shoulder and threw it off her arm and she continued to shake her rope belt down to her legs, the lightsabers clattered to the floor with the belt. She held the tied rope belt and shoulder belt by the knots that hold them together and tossed it on the wall. With the Force, I felt her as she lifted her lightsabers off the ground and flew them over the shower wall and gently lay them on the floor outside, next to her quiver. Then she grabbed the shoulder straps from her one-piece suit and lowered them down her arms and waist, she simply slipped her suit off her upper body. Then she looked to her tail and the hole in the lower back of the suit that it sticks through, she stuck it back in the hole and lowered the suit to the floor and slipped her legs through the holes. She picked up the one piece suit and threw it over the shower wall over the cloak. Now completely stripped of her clothing and accessories, she stood under the shower head and the water fell down on her perfect, thin body and she began washing her forearms clean from the black dye.

I heard a loud noise outside the shower room and I stood up, with the towel still wrapped around my waist. I took the towel off me and set it on the countertop, I grabbed my white uniform remains and put it on over my naked body. Then I reached for my black pants and slipped them up to my waist, over the white uniform. I then fastened my belt around my waist to keep the pants up. I Force pulled my black boots to me and put them on, pulling the legs of the boots up to my knees, they tucked over my pants legs. Grabbing the towel again, I began drying my upper body as I walked to the door and opened it. I cautiously looked out into the hallway of the shower rooms and saw a man fallen onto the ground, with a metal rack and a bunch of towels on the floor and a woman standing up next to him. I walked over to them and both the woman and I helped him up and upon closer examination, I noticed he was blind in one eye, his right eye was completely whitened.

"Are you okay?" I asked the man.

"I'm okay," he nodded and rubbed his knee, then picked up the metal rack and set it back on its legs. "I'm just having a little trouble seeing around this place is all."

The man was at least in his late twenties, he had short dark brown hair and a green left eye. I turned to the woman, she was also in her late twenties, with a long blond ponytail and bright yellow eyes.

"Is he okay?" I asked her about the partially blind man.

"Oh yeah, he's fine," she nodded. "He usually sees very well with one eye. He's actually one of our best sharpshooters, but today-" we both turned to him, "-things are a bit off." We both kept watching the man as he began rubbing the back of his head. "What happened in the training center, Arcinos?"

He shrugged one shoulder.

"I just overworked myself maybe. How long have we been training in there today?"

She looked up at a clock on the wall and turned to him.

"Five and a half hours," she said.

"Yeah," he stretched his back. "I'm exhausted from a long day. I came here for a quick break."

"Them why is she here?" I asked.

"I'm his partner, and I help him if ever he can't see as well as usual."

"Everything looks like a big white blur," he mumbled as he walked around.

"He's blind in one eye, and his vision is shady through his other eye. But he's pulling through. He's a great asset to the rebellion, like I said he's one of the best sharpshooters."

I nodded slowly.

"Kalina," he called out at the other end of the hall, "I think I'm beginning to see better. The walls aren't so blurry anymore now."

"That's good," she nodded as she walked to him. "I have to go take care of him. It was a pleasure to meet you Lord Venison."

Kalina walked away to help her partially blinded partner, Arcinos, and they walked down the hall in the distance.

I turned back to the shower room Rooda was in and walked back to its door, opening and passing through it. I closed the door and walked back to the counter, and I turned to my left to the shower as the shower head turned off. I immediately turned away and covered my eyes to give her the privacy she deserves. I heard her as the towel pulled down from the shower wall, so I knew she was covering herself with it. I got up and walked out of the room and looked back at where the two rebels were. Nobody was there. I felt Rooda's presence as she left the shower and pulled her clothing from the shower wall to dress herself.

I began to think of all the rebels we've encountered when we got here. Senator Organa and his young daughter, Leia, who welcomed us to the rebel base and helped us spread our massage to the rebellion. The Jedi Knight Yoshi Raph-Elan and Shirante, the rebel corporal who agreed to show us around the base. Gaarer and Nattha, the two soldiers who led us to the medical suite and helped us around. Bolt, who helped holographically copy images of Rooda's hands and my arm for my realistic, prosthetic replacement limbs. And now both Kalina and Arcinos, the two soldiers who I've just met both in the hallway outside the shower rooms.

I turned back to the door of the shower room as Rooda walked out, with a white towel wrapped around her body, the towel covered from the tops of her breasts down to her knees. I looked at her forearms and then her leg calves and noticed that she cleaned the black dye off of her as well.

"Doesn't it feel much better, now that you've cleaned that stuff off?"

She nodded slowly and she looked down at her towel, then she blushed nervously.

"I need to-" she mumbled quietly as she backed to the door.

"Yes, you should get dressed," I chuckled and she closed the door behind her, and she proceeded to put her clothing back on.

I looked down at my clothing, just a black pair of pants and the black boots covering my lower half. My metal stomach plates has been removed and now my bare upper body is even more exposed without the plates and the black dye from my fur.

"Maybe I should find something to wear-?" I began to ask myself.

I looked around the hall to try to find anything I could wear to cover my torso. Nothing was around. I turned back to the door into the shower room and Rooda stepped out, clothed with her soft, black one-piece suit, her rope belt and strap, and her brown quiver from Shirante, slung over her right shoulder and its bandolier wrapped around her body, as she buckled her large black cloak on and its cape followed behind her. She turned to me and presented her clean arms and legs.

"How do I look?" She asked me as she posed with her arms akimbo, then performed a little spin, the cloak's cape fluttering in the air around her.

"Absolutely stunning," I answer as I watched her stop spinning and look at me.

"Thank you-" she said in her calm, quiet voice and chuckled, and the two of us began walking out of the shower rooms' hall back into the main section of the rebel soldiers' training center. Rooda and I looked to each other.

"What do you think Rakine is up to back on Yavin?" Rooda asked me.

"I don't think he's on Yavin."

I felt a tremor in the Force. Something that told me that he is far from Yavin.


	8. Chapter 8

Concord Dawn, a troubled planet system in the galaxy, with a scarring history both to the planet and its people, and Rakine Cerivian was sent there. Accompanied by rebel soldier and pilot Knuks Depirts, the two rebels head to Concord Dawn on a mission to recover something claimed to be precious to the Cerivian family name.

Rakine flew his large, black, X-Wing modeled starship through the depths of space toward the Concord Dawn system. The ship sailed smoothly through to the atmosphere of Concord Dawn and down to the surface of the planet, towards the massive crater covering a large portion of the planet surface. Once the landing gear protruded from the bottom of the ship and the X-Wing landed next to the crater cliff, the horizontal door opened, an entry platform came down to the ground and Rakine Cerivian walked out onto the planet's surface. The young pilot Knuks Depirts stepped out behind him, tossing his rebel pilot helmet behind him and it flew back into the ship, and he whipped his head side to side, his neck length black hair fell from the top of his head and covered his neck and head. The front of his hair, streaked in white hair dye, fell over Knuks' left eye as he turned to Rakine.

"What is this family business you've recently had dealings with?"

Rakine sighed and rubbed his fingers through his short black hair.

"I have been told to retrieve my family's armor. It was last seen worn by my father."

Rakine began walking through the rocky fields of Concord Dawn, toward the crater, the massive portion of the southern hemisphere that's been completely blown away. This region remains as permanent damage done to the surface of this planet.

"Your father is here with the armor for you?"

"Maybe? So far it's nothing I know. I don't know if he's dead or alive. It's my mother who said the he and the armor would be here."

"Is she here too?"

"No. She's on Mandalore. This is where my father was last seen though. If he has been here recently, then the armor should be here and so should he."

"But why here and not Mandalore?"

"My father came here just recently, to fight a battle against the Empire. My family back on Mandalore said that he never did come back home."

The rebels had reached the edge of the planet surface, the massive crater where a fraction of the land was blown away. They looked around for any sign of anyone nearby, and Knuks pointed to the left at a field of human bodies scattered across the plains of Concord Dawn. They began waking over to the field and examined all the corpses. Each body was either an Imperial stormtrooper or man who wore a black uniform marked with the Empire's insignia.

"This is an Imperial army," Knuks looked down at all the bodies in their Imperial uniforms.

Rakine walked over to the edge of the cliff, looking around curiously.

"I don't understand. My father should've been here."

"Captain," Knuks pointed down the edge of the cliff to a black and red humanoid figure laying on a narrow rock sticking out of the crater.

Rakine Force jumped down to the figure and when he got closer, he realized it was a man in black and red Mandalorian armor.

"Is it him?" Knuks asked from above.

"It might be him," Rakine picked up the man's armored body and Force jumped back up the cliff to the surface and Knuks helped him lay the body down. Rakine immediately pulled the armor helmet off of the man's head to find a scarred middle-aged man, with long black hair with gray streaks.

"It is him," Rakine turned to Knuks, then to his mortally wounded father.

"R-aki-ne-" he moaned and felt the wound between his chest and stomach plate. "There was-"

Rakine examined the wound in the armor.

"It's a lightsaber puncture," he looked back to his father. "Who did this?"

"An Inquisitor-" he coughed.

"Who was it? What was their name?" Knuks asked as if he was interrogating Rakine's father.

Rakine's father stared blankly at the two rebels and with his final breaths, he said a name.

"Mal-," he gasped for air as he spoke, "-Ralota." He pushed the Mandalorian armor helmet closer to Rakine with one hand and his head slouched back, his empty, soulless eyes staring off into the skies of Concord Dawn. Rakine Cerivian's father was dead.

Overcome with sadness, Rakine looked down and stared into his reflection made by the tinted, T-shaped visor on the helmet. A single tear fell from his eye and smudged onto the visor. Then he looked up to Knuks as he began taking the pieces of the armor off of Rakine's father's body, pushing the gauntlets and the arm protection off his shoulders and onto the ground. Rakine simply closed his eyes and caught the fallen armor with the Force and everything floated above the ground. An intense anger, a lust for revenge, a spark of hatred grew inside Rakine as he tossed his armored helmet up in the air and suspended it in the air with his telekinetic powers.

"You're going to avenge him, are you?" Knuks asked Rakine.

"You know it," he turned to Knuks. "Whoever this Mal Ralota is, he's going to pay for the death of my father." He stared down to the ground angrily and pointed to his father's body. "My father no longer has use for the armor. It's my turn to represent the Cerivian family."

With every bit of armor that Knuks took off of Rakine's father's body, he telekinetically held it with his strength in the Force. Knuks stuck Rakine's father's arms into the torso piece of the armor and he pulled it off over his head. Rakine Force pulled the torso piece to him and the armor slid over his body and completely covered over Rakine's upper half. As the arm pieces and the torso potion of the red and black Mandalorian armor covered over his olive green jacket and his gray tunic, Rakine took his lightsaber and his blaster off his belt and tossed them in the air, and they remained suspended in the air. Knuks slipped the lower half of the Mandalorian armor off of Rakine's father's body and Rakine pulled the rest of the armor to him, when he jumped forward in a front flip and landed on his hands, he held his legs straight up and the abdominal and leg pieces of the Mandalorian armor simply slid over his black jeans and boots. Rakine, almost completely equipped with the armor, flipped back up in the air and landed on his armored feet. Rakine's father now only wore a thin black suit, with the Mandalorian jetpack still on his back. Knuks turned his body over and nodded in approval as he glanced upon Rakine, now completely armored, except for his head.

"Rakine, you truly are ready to carry on your family name."

Rakine nodded and Force pulled the floating helmet to him and held it in his hand. Then Knuks took the Mandalorian jetpack off of Rakine's father and tossed to to Rakine, he simply catches it with the Force and slowly puts it at his back, the straps on it fasten around him and completely strap the jetpack onto his body. Then he slowly put the Mandalorian helmet on, finished equipping the armor and completed the Cerivian family's rite of passage. He Force pulled his lightsaber and blaster to him and stuck them on the armor's belt. Then he nodded to Knuks.

"Should we go to Mandalore to deliver the tragic news?"

Rakine began to speak in an almost metallic voice from his helmet.

"This news should be spread to Mandalore. If they find one of their best warriors and soldiers were deliberately killed by the Empire, it could help turn them to our rebel cause."

Knuks and Rakine both picked up the corpse of Rakine's father and they took him into Rakine's large, black X-Wing, to deliver the body and the tragic news to Mandalore.


	9. Chapter 9

We met back with Gaarer and Nattha just outside the training center.

"Now that you've cleaned up, maybe we should head back to Corporal and Master Raph-Elan to get a current report on the Empire's recent expansions."

Gaarer turned to the hallway leading to the main elevator chamber in the center of the base. We all followed behind him and walked past a large window and I turned my head to watch as a small group of rebels practiced their accuracy in sharpshooting.

One rebel soldier stepped up on a higher platform and held two blasters in his hands. He was at least in his mid-twenties, with spiked brown hair, brown eyes and large piercings lined across the top of his ears. He held his two blasters ready and as holographic stormtroopers began appearing and running toward him, cocking their holographic weapons, the rebel raised his arms, pointed the blasters at the stormtroopers and began firing upon the holographic images. The stormtroopers crumpled into holographic bits with each shot they took. A stormtrooper appeared behind him and fired a holographic blaster bolt at the rebel, he simply turned and jerked his head and chest back, the bolt flying above his nose. He stood straight up and fired at the stormtrooper image, sending it into holographic bits. He continues to shoot rapidly, shooting at each holographic stormtrooper, dodging each of their shots. One stormtrooper appeared with a large blaster rifle and shot at the rebel, a large bolt quickly flew over him as he somersaulted under it. He landed on one knee in a kneeling position as he fired both blasters and destroyed the last holographic image. The holograms shut down and he walked down to the floor, another rebel started walking to him and patting him on his back. The other rebel also was in his mid twenties, he too had piercings over the tops of his ears, but he had blue eyes and short, messy tan hair. They looked like brothers by how similar they looked. I watched as the two reel soldiers began talking and walking to another training section.

"Gobus and Ronnus," Nattha turned to me and I looked back ahead as the rebels left. "They're brothers. Ronnus is the aggressive, spike-haired one, and Gobus is the smaller one with the flat hair."

I nodded slowly and turned to another rebel who started running an obstacle course high off the ground, he was running across platforms and dodging blaster bolts from the holographic stormtroopers. He turned to the side to shoot one and as he was running, his foot slipped off the edge of one of the platforms. He grabbed into the edge with one hand and fired at another stormtrooper then began climbing back up. He got up and turned back to the holographic stormtroopers to shoot them and he is joined by another rebel who started running the course. They both started running and shooting at the stormtroopers, and they reached a large jump to another platform. One rebel jumped and started climbing up the edge safely, and when the other rebel jumped to the next platform and grabbed the edge, a stormtrooper appeared and shot a bolt at the man's hand. As he hung on and the bolt started electrically shocking his hand, he grunted in pain and lost his grip on the platform. The rebel fell off the platform and fell fifteen feet to the ground, his leg snapped at the knees and he fell onto his side, holding his leg and groaning in pain.

"Dashall!"

The three of us watched as Gaarer ran down the hallway into a nearby door to go and check on the fallen rebel. Gaarer, the two rebels at the sharpshooting station Gobus and Ronnus all went to go and help Dashall back up. Ronnus and Gobus picked him up on his good leg and help walk him to the medical suite to see how bad his leg injury was. Gaarer and Ronnus exchanged a few words to each other and the brothers walk away carrying a limping Dashall between them. Gaarer ran back to us and opened the door to meet back with us.

"What happened to Dashall?" Nattha asked.

"His leg's badly injured from the training course," he points to Gobus and Ronnus as they take hi away. "They're taking him to the medical suite to help his leg."

Rooda and I turned to each other.

"The training course is for professionals is it?"

Nattha nodded and he motioned for the rebel at the top of the training course to come down and join us. He nodded and finished shooting at the holographic stormtroopers. When all the holograms were destroyed he slid down a slanted wall and landed on his feet and started running towards us, shaking Nattha's hand as he met up with us.

"Hey, Levi," he turned to us, "and you must be the infamous Sith who saved the Kommaden system from Imperial liberation. Darth Venison himself."

I nodded.

"Name's Comet," he said as he shook my hand,

Comet was a young man in his mid-thirties, with short black hair and a stubble beard and mustache. He had just shaved recently. He took the blaster rifle in his hand and set it back on a shelf for another rebel to use.

"Why not just use that gun for your missions?" Rooda asked.

"Because I don't need blasters. Blasters I use merely for practice, because I have something better. A rifle made by on of the Sand People of Tatooine themselves," he pay the rifle on his back, strapped onto his person my a bandolier.

"A Tusken rifle," Nattha nodded slowly. "More damaging, Tusken rifles can shoot with enough force to pierce through stormtrooper armor."

"Uh-huh," Comet nodded, "so where are you guys headed?"

"We were going to regroup with Yoshi Raph-Elan and Shirante in the conference chamber," Gaarer said as he turned to us.

"There's something big going on," Comet nodded. "Something near the Toger system.

"That's what we've been going to check out," I nodded.

Comet turned to another rebel inside the training area who began to call out to him.

"I'll be right there," he turned to us. "I gotta continue training for now, but the conference area is that way," he pointed behind him to the far end of the hallway. "Hopefully we'll meet again, Lord Venison. May the Force be with you."

Comet ran back into the training center and yanked the blaster rifle off the shelf and went off to join the other rebels in more training.

"He's dedicated to fighting in the war against the Empire," Gaarer spoke to the three of us, Nattha, Rooda, and myself. "He's another skilled soldier, as you've seen him on the course."

I nodded slowly and Gaarer started walking down the hallway and we all began following him. He walked to an elevator and pushed a button, the doors opened and a friendly voice greeted him. A man stood inside the elevator.

"Thorn," the man in the elevator chuckled.

He was a large man in his late thirties, with short, dark orange hair and a large and thick orange beard.

"Hello Pha," Gaarer grinned and the large man pat his back.

"What're you up to now Thorn? I be hearing of some new recruits and-" he stopped and turned to both Rooda and myself. "Ah so it is true. Venison, the warrior of Kommaden."

"Venison," Gaarer cleared his throat, "this as you may tell is another soldier of the Alliance. Pha Cornor."

Cornor walked over to me and shook my cybernetic hand in aggressive up and down shakes but also he was being friendly while doing so.

"Pleasure to meet a fellow warrior, a Force-strong being," Cornor turned to Rooda behind my back, and cleared his throat. "And hello to you too young lady."

"Hello-" nodded slowly. "I'm sure you're aware if why we're here, don't you?"

"Oh I do. You've come to help us in our cause against the Empire."

"That's right," she nodded again.

We all stepped in the elevator, all five of us and it lowered to the conference floor. The doors opened and we all walked out into a large conference chamber looking for the corporal of the rebel army.

"Where's Shirante?" I asked.

"Over there," Cornor pointed.

We walked over to them and met back up Yoshi Raph-Elan and Corporal Shirante, they were in the same conference chamber and central planning station where we discovered that the Empire has expanded southward to the Toger system in the Wild Space. They both carefully examine a map of the galactic southwest, where two systems have both been taken and liberated for the Empire's expansion.

"Daldurr and Faeterra have both already been taken by the Empire," Shirante mumbled and pounded his fist on a desk.

"Any recent updates?" Gaarer asked Yoshi as he searched the holographic map of the galaxy.

"I sense an invasion to the Toger system is just underway. It wont be long before they invade. We must act now," Yoshi turned to Shirante. "Has Orgama made contact with Mon Mothma yet?"

"Still no confirmation. He may be having some trouble. Cornor, Gaarer, go search for Senator Organa and warn him that the Empire is ready to invade Toger."

The two rebel soldiers nodded and ran to the elevator.

"What else should we do?" Rooda asked.

"Communicate with anyone you can to help us," Shirante stared at the galactic charts as Imprrial ships neared the Toger system in the galactic southwest. "If Kommaden or Toger should fall, then the entire galaxy may be under the Empire's control. They are among some of the strongest systems in Wild Space."

"What's so important about Toger?" Rooda asked.

"The people who live there," Yoshi said to us. "The Togera. The Togera are a species of lizard-like creatures, with large and scaly bodies more impenetrable than Mandalorian armor. Their scaly skin is so hard and thick and tough that they can withstand blaster bolts and rumor has it, even a lightsaber's blade. They are aggressive and violent creatures, easily defensive over their land."

"But if these Togera's skin can withstand lightsaber blades and blaster bolts, they shouldn't be easily slaughtered by the Imperial armies."

"Worse as it turns out. They are a primitive species, easily swayed and obedient to any superior forces. They're mostly very submissive."

"Primitive?" I asked.

Yoshi nodded.

"If the Empire can get them to turn against the Rebel Alliance, then we may have a real big problem. It'll be a miracle if anyone or anything can help us to stop the Imperial armies from taking the Toger system."

I looked to Rooda and opened my communicator, and a holographic image of a man in armor appeared. He spoke in a metallic voice under his helmet.

"Lord Venison, nice to see you up on your feet again."

His hands reached for his helmet and he took it off. It was Rakine himself, wearing a full suit of Mandalorian armor.

"What's the armor for, Rakine?"

"Family tragedies. My father died and now I have to carry my family's name through victory. What about you? You're missing your antler-sabers."

"It's a long story-"

"So's mine."

"We have no time to waste. Get ready to come here to Dantooine. We have a real pandemic to discuss."

He nodded and the image disappeared and I closed my communicator. Rooda nudged my shoulder and motioned me to look up at a galactic map of Wild Space. The army of rebel ships from Kommaden had prepared a battle strategy to defend the Toger system. Their ships has started a blockade over Toger and readied to face the Star Destroyers that came to liberate the planet system.

"Kommaden's forces," Yoshi stared baffled. "But-"

"They had made a vow to help protect Wild Space from the threats of Imperial invasion," I responded. "It looks like they're ready to help do just that."

"We can hope they're up to the challenge," Shirante mumbled quietly, folding his arms.

He doesn't think the defense will be a success. He believes that Kommaden's rebellion forces will fall to the Empire, and that the Toger system will be taken as another one of the Empire's stepping stones. And all we could do was watch as the Star Destroyers released hundreds of TIE Fighters to face the Kommaden starfighters. An aerial battle began as the ships began to open fire upon each other.


	10. Chapter 10

I sat outside the conference room where the others watched a holographic battle in space over the mysterious planet Toger. Toger, where it's said is ruled by the Togera, a large, lizard-like species with strong and scaly skin that had been claimed to withstand the bolts of a blaster and the blade of a lightsaber. And if these claims are true, then the Togera would be a valuable asset to the Imperial army. I lifted my head to see Rooda walk to me, sitting down next to me.

"I can sense your fear," she said to me calmly.

"I don't know if we're winning the war or losing miserably. What if Kommaden's air raid is a failure and both Kommaden and Toger are taken by the Empire?"

"Have faith, Venny. You worry too much on things. Maybe the rebel forces in space can help defend Toger from the threat of the Empire."

"Hopefully," I stood up and turned to the elevator as Gaarer and Cornor came back into the room, with Senator Organa following behind them.

"I have contacted Mon Mothma of Yavin 4 to come and aid me in the Imperial Senate to try and negotiate for more troops to join our cause in secrecy, since we hope to remain elusive but not suspicious in the Senate. We don't want the Empire on our doorstep, now do we?"

"Good luck with that, Senator Organa," I told him as he walked by to inform Shirante and Yoshi of his news. He approached them calmly.

I stared at the elevator and I waited for any sign of Rakine's presence in the Force. After I told him to come here to help discuss the next plans for the Rebel Alliance, I've had much other things to discuss with him. He said his father died and now he must carry the family name to victory, so it is obvious that the armor belongs to his family. But where did he get it from, where was he when he received the armor? And his family, without his father, what becomes of the rest of his family? He must have at least a mother or even siblings that stay home on Mandalore.

Then I thought of how I spoke to Karus about my antler-sabers, and how Rakine would've loved to have taken them for his own use. The sabers are still in the medical suite where Bolt still has them.

"I have to go and talk to Bolt," I stood up and turned to the elevator door.

"What for?" Rooda asked me.

"I have to get my old antler-sabers, for Rakine. He'd be able to use them better than I would've ever."

I walked to the elevator and the doors opened. I pushed the button that would take me to the medical suite, the doors closed, and the elevator rose up to the medical floor. The elevator stopped on the medical floor and I quickly walked for the cybernetics department, when I bump into Bolt as the door opened between us.

"Bolt- do you still have my antler-sabers here?"

"Yes, they are still in the room where we checked you out. They're sitting on the desk."

"Good."

"You need them?"

"For a friend who's on his way here. He would make an excellent fighter with those sabers as his weapons."

Bolt nodded and motioned me to follow him.

"This way."

We both walked down the hall to the room where my antler-sabers still sit on the desk. Bolt walked into the room, picked them up off the desk and handed them to me.

"They have been deep cleaned too. Not a trace of your former DNA is left on them, so they're safe for later use without spreading anything."

I nodded and held then in my metallic hands.

"Excellent. Rakine will be pleased to have these."

We walked out into the hallway toward the exit of the main cybernetic department, and I turned to Bolt.

"You're a medic here, yes?"

He shrugged.

"I'm a soldier in medical training. I still fight out there on the field of battle, but here I train to help heal people."

I nodded again.

"How often do you go on mission?"

Bolt opened the door and we walked out into the main room.

"As often as the average soldier, but here I have to work twice as hard. Some days I'm training to fight and some I'm training here to be a medic whenever I go out on missions."

Bolt and I walked to the elevator when I stopped and stared up to the surface of the planet many floor above. I felt the presences of both Rakine and Knuks as his large X-Wing ship flew down through the atmosphere to the ground.

"He's here," I spoke softly and I walked into the elevator.

Bolt pushed a button for the elevator to go up to the top floor, the doors closed behind us, and we rose up in the elevator to the top. He turned his head to me.

"You feel him in the Force do you?"

I nodded.

"I wish I could understand that power, it seems the force is the strongest thing in this whole galaxy."

"It is," I looked upward as Rakine's presence drew closer, and I knew he could feel my presence as well. His ship had landed just outside the base entrance.

"You think he'll like it if your face him this sabers as a gift?" Bolt asked me.

"He loves weapons. He has an affinity for lightsabers. He's going to be very pleased with these."

The elevator went up through the massive underground base and up to the surface of Dantooine. The elevator doors opened and Rakine and Knuks stepped in. Bolt pushed a button and the doors closed, the elevator went back down.

"You've cleaned the black off your body," Rakine said to me as he looked at my forearm then to my face, noticing the dye has been washed off.

"Yes."

"And what is to become of your antler-sabers? If you're not going to wield them, who will?"

I held the sabers in my metallic hands and held them out to Rakine.

"You'd make much better use of them. I have no need for them anymore."

He took them and chuckled, holding them by the main bolts.

"Thank you Ven. These will indeed be proven useful."

I looked at him and noticed the way he held them in his hands. He had two fingers and his thumb grasping over the main bolts and his two other fingers resting on the sides of the main wedge. If they were to have handles, they'd be much too short to wield as handheld lightsaber.

"These need some upgrading I think," Rakine looked at his hands as he held his new sabers uncomfortably.

"A solution will present itself," Bolt turned to Rakine.

Rakine nodded slowly as the elevator continued downward, he looked around at the underground base in surprise.

"How long has this been here?"

"About ten years," Bolt answered quietly. "Senator Organa from Alderaan started creation of this base to train rebel soldiers, while he helps gain supporters out there to help form the Alliance to Restore the Republic, more commonly known as the Rebel Alliance."

Rakine gave another slight nod. I noticed him as the elevator reached the training stations and he watched through the glass windows of the elevator the rebels in the training center all practicing their sharpshooting, their training with training lightsabers, and their ability to maneuver over rugged terrain.

"They train in a lot of different things do they?"

Bolt nodded.

"They never know if they have to fight against someone with a lightsaber or if they have to climb mountains or rugged landscape. So we prepare them here."

"Genius," Rakine nodded again, this time, slowly in approval.

We watched Gobus and Ronnus, the two rebel soldiers from earlier, the brothers who helped the injured soldier to the medical suite. They both ran through an obstacle course shooting at the holographic stormtroopers as they ran by. Ronnus jumped over to the next platform, landing on his feet in a somersault. Gobus jumped after his brother and grabbed the edge with his hands, hoisting himself up on his elbows, and Ronnus pulled him up. They both continued to run through the obstacle course and I watched Rakine turn to the sharpshooting stations, where both Kalina and Arcinos from the shower rooms, as they both held blaster rifles blasting away at the holographic stormtroopers.

"How often do they train?" He asked.

"It's mandatory to train at least few hours daily," Bolt said to us. "They try not to push or rush the soldiers, but they do help to prepare and motivate them for the outside world, where the Empire and the war await us all."

Knuks turned to Bolt.

"Can everyone train for battle here?"

"Of course."

Knuks pushed a button to stop the elevator on the training floor and the door opened. He walked out of the elevator and ran to the training center. Rakine chuckled and pushed a button, continuing the elevator's descent.

"He seems eager to fight," Bolt chuckled as well.

"He's been a starfighter pilot most of the war. He's had almost no ground fighting experience."

"Ah," Bolt nodded and the elevator continued, the vast living quarters for the soldiers passing by us. The elevator stopped in the conference center and the doors opened. Rooda, Cornor, and Shirante all turned their heads to us as we walked into the room they were in.

"I hear there have been troubles near the Toger system," Rakine said as he stood at the table, leaning forward with his hands on the table's edge.

"Yes," Shirante muttered quietly.

"Rakine Cerivian," Yoshi Raph-Elan walked into the room. "It's so good to see you again."

Rakine stared in shock and managed a small grin.

"Master Raph-Elan, you're alive."

"Aye," Yoshi nodded. "The Order 66 hasn't found me when I went back to that backwater planet."

"Lourdes?" Rakine asked.

"I miss her-" Yoshi sighed and sat down in a chair, Rakine walked over to him and motioned him to stand back up.

"We have much to discuss, Master Raph-Elan."

They both walked into another section of the conference chamber, their voices fading in the distance.

"You've probably heard that-"

I turned back to Rooda and Cornor as they sat down I chairs at the table. Thorn Gaarer and Levi Nattha walked in from another door with a hologram in his hand. It was a holographic planet with two small moons around it. Nattha say down in a chair while Gaarer presented to us an idea.

"I think I've found why the Empire wants the Toger system so badly," he sat down at the table putting the hologram on the table. "This is Toger and it's two moons, Tiu Er and Tei Tenga. But what's really important is on Toger." He zoomed in hologram closer to Toger, espousing the rugged surface of the planet. "Toger is a planet covered in rugged terrain and large, sharp mountains. There is one mountain that the Togera have used to create a large fortress inside the mountain range." He pointed at the tallest and largest mountain in on a section of the planet's northern hemisphere. "Mount Harridan is the largest mountain on Toger, and it's home to the Togera's main entrance to their underground mines and cities under the surface. It is an underground paradise to them. And the large underground area of Toger is what the Empire wants. They're planing on building a massive underground Imperial base, a checkpoint to the war. If they take this area they may build their imperial base under the surface of Toger. Then all of Wild Space will be vulnerable to the Empire, and the galaxy will have fallen to the Empire."

"That's what Kommaden's troops are fighting for," Cornor looked closely at the hologram of Toger.

"Exactly," Gaarer nodded. "If Kommaden succeeds, it'll give us time to help the Togera to protect their home planet, they won't fall to the Empire and they will provide us a warm welcome and a hidden Rebel Alliance base underground. It will be a tremendous advantage. We just need to get to Toger and find the underground entrance into Mount Harridan to help the Togera."

The hologram turned off and we all stood in silence, knowing now what the next big plan for the Rebel Alliance was. We all glanced to each other curiously, to see if anyone had anything to say about the situation at hand.

"Well," Shirante stood up from the table, breaking the silence, "we better get an army prepared for the trip to Toger."

"No," Nattha shook his head. "An army would scare them into thinking we'e there to invade, attack," he turned to everyone else. "To kill. But we're going to help them."

"What request are you making, Nattha?" I asked him.

"A proposal, Lord Venison. I suggest a small strike force of rebel soldiers to go to Toger to help negotiate with them about how we're to help them."

"How many soldiers should go out to Toger?" Cornor asked and turned to Nattha and Gaarer.

"At least ten to twenty, a small group to go," Gaarer turned to us and pointed at each of us, counting us all in his head. Cornor, Nattha, Shirante, myself and Rooda, Bolt, and himself. We make seven men. Then he pointed to the door where Rakine and Yoshi Raph-Elan went to talk. Add them and we get nine.

"That's nine, Thorn," Cornor stood up. "If we're going to create a small strike force to go to Toger we need more people."

"What about the soldiers I've met here?" I asked out of the blue. Nattha and Gaarer's heads jerk to me. "What if we took Kalina and Arcinos, the two brothers Gobus and Ronnus, Comet, Dashall, and Rakine's friend Knuks?"

"Nine, and seven," Rooda stood up and turned to me. "That makes sixteen."

Shirante nodded.

"It's a good group of soldiers. Very well. I'm going to go and get the soldiers, recruit them for this small strike force." Shirante stood up and walked out of the conference chamber, to the elevator. He pushed a button and the doors closed behind him. The elevator ascended up to the training center where he would get the soldiers who I called to help us.

"Sixteen soldiers," Rooda looked at us, then turned to Gaarer and Nattha. "But are you sure this will work?"

"It has to," Nattha said quietly. "If not, then the Empire will have won the whole galaxy. The rebel forces of Kommaden can't hold them off forever. We must act fast. We have to get to Mount Harridan on Toger's surface to get to the Togera. If we can convince them to join our rebel cause, it may give us the upper hand."

"The Togera have scaly skin stronger than Mandalorian armor," Gaarer added. "They become part of the rebellion, and we'll have soldiers that can withstand lightsabers and blasters."

"It'll definitely give us an advantage," Cornor nodded.

"It'll be a great turning point in this war," Bolt agreed.

Rakine and Yoshi came back and sat down.

"What happened?" Rooda asked.

"Just catching up," Rakine leaned back in a chair and propped his feet on the edge of the table. "So what'll we do about Toger?"

Nattha turned to Rakine.

"We're creating a strike force to go down to Mount Harridan where the Togera have their large underground communities. We convince them to help aid the rebellion and grant us permission to great a secret rebel base there. Where we will easily have our eyes on the Wild Space, so no Imperial threats will ever come that way. It's foolproof."

"I see-" Yoshi was interrupted by the elevator as it came down and opened. Shirante walked out into the conference room joined by the seven rebel soldiers that he went to retrieve. Gobus and Ronnus stood by Shirante, both leaning against the wall, Dashall limping into the room, being helped by Comet and Kalina, Arcinos sat down in a chair, and Knuks Depirts, who leaned against the wall on the further end. Here we all are. The sixteen members of this new strike force.

"So what is it we're here for?" Kalina looked around at us all.

"We are all creating the rebel strike force to go to the Toger system, to aid the Togera, help them fight against the Empire." Shirante looked at everyone. "We have sixteen rebels here. Everyone get into groups of two. I need eight pairs."

All the rebels looked to each other as the eight pairs of rebels formed. Kalina and Arcinos stood next to each other as one pair. Comet helped Dashall up on his good leg as the second pair. Gobus and Ronnus, the third. Bolt and Cornor as the fourth. Gaarer and Nattha, the fifth. Rakine and Knuks as the sixth pair. Rooda and myself as the seventh. And Yoshi Raph-Elan and Shirante stood up as the eighth pair.

"We have our eight pairs," Shirante nodded.

"Now what?" Ronnus asked.

"Everyone get an X-Wing," Shirante looked at everyone. "We start our flight for Toger."

All the soldiers started running to the elevators and headed upward to the hangar near the surface. I watched as the eleven rebel soldiers ascended up to the hangar, and Rooda and I stand in an elevator. Rakine, Knuks and Yoshi Raph-Elan joined us as the elevator ascending shortly after the others.

"Are the missions here always like this?" Rooda asked.

"Not usually," Yoshi chuckled. "Only the important ones."

The elevator doors opened into the hangar and Rooda and I ran to get an X-Wing starfighter, I Force jumped up into the cockpit and Rooda climbed the ladder to the co-pilot's seat. I looked at the elevator and saw Yoshi running to Shirante's X-Wing and Rakine and Knuks stayed in the elevator and it went up to the surface. I closed the cockpit's windshield down and Rooda and I strapped into the seats, and I started the ship. Watching all the other X-Wings started up by the other rebels, I picked the ship up off the ground, put away it's landing gear, and all the rebels' X-Wings flew up out of the hangar's main entrance and seven X-Wings took to the skies.

"Where are Rakine and Knuks?" I asked Rooda as she sat behind me, and she looked down to the ground where Rakine and Knuks ran to their big, black X-Wing.

"They're getting in his black one," she said behind my back.

As the seven X-Wings flew up in the atmosphere, Rakine's big, black X-Wing took to the skies and joined us as the rebel team began the flight to the Toger system.


	11. Chapter 11

The eight rebel starfighters flew slowly toward the Toger system cautiously, because the battle between the Empire and the rebel forces of Kommaden was still underway. As the Kommaden starfighters fought for the Rebel Alliance and shot down already large waves of TIE Fighters, more began to fly out of the large hangars on the sides of the three Star Destroyers that came here. We slowly approached the battle site and watched as the ships from both sides continues to fight for their own cause.

"Now what do we do?" Cornor asked Shirante.

"It's now or never. Don't focus on the TIE Fighters. We just need to get down to Toger."

The leading X-wing rushed straight into the battlefield toward Toger and the other five followed. Rakine's big black X-Wing followed behind them and I continued flying alongside him. We all started swerving and barrel-rolling just to avoid the flying laser cannon shots from the other ships as they shot each other down.

"We'll be lucky if we even get to Toger," Rooda muttered in the back.

"Hold your fire," Shirante commanded. "We don't want to attract any attention now do we?"

The first and second X-Wing made it through the atmosphere to Toger and when we all crossed the border into the atmosphere, we were welcomed with bright blue skies. Bright blue skies and at least millions of sharp and jagged mountains covering the surface below.

"How do we know which one is Mount Harridan again?" I asked.

"It's the relatively largest one, both in the space it takes up on the surface and how tall it is," Shirante's voice comes to me through the headphones.

Still flying the X-Wing smoothly through the air, I searched the rocky, jagged surface to find Mount Harridan, the largest out of the countless mountains that dominate most of Toger's surface and skyline.

"I think I found it," I hear Kalina's voice through the headphones and her X-Wing drifts to the left.

"That's the one," Shirante's X-Wing followed after Kalina's and soon all the others followed behind them to the largest mountain in northern Toger.

"Mount Harridan," I said quietly as I watched the towering mountain get closer to the ships. Then we all looked to the ground below, looking for a safe, flat place for the starfighters to land near the mountain.

"There's nowhere to land. Everyone look for any flat areas I land the X-Wings."

All the ships spread out and we began to search for our landing zone.

"There are no landing zones."

"If we land on the slopes we'll slide right off the face of the mountain," Shirante muttered. "Find a landing zone."

"What about down there?" Gaarer's X-Wing flew down to a small flat area far from Mount Harridan. "This is a relatively flat hilltop."

"It'll have to do," Shirante's X-Wing flew down and the other ships started landing on top of the small hill.

I landed my X-Wing and popped up the protective windshield, sticking my head out of the cockpit and feeling the warm breezy winds brush across my face. Then my mind wandered off and I had a flashback of when Rooda and I were primitive Zan-Deer warriors back on our old home planet Zant. I walked out of the hut where we slept and felt the same warm breeze flow around me as I watched our village Randin awaken. Then Rooda stepped out of the hut behind me, with her double-sided lightspear in her hand. I couldn't help but smile and then her mouth starts to open when she speaks.

"Lord Ven?" She asked.

I looked down at myself as the black dye melted off of my arm and leg fur, my primitive loincloth turned black and started stretching down my legs, creating a black pair of pants. Boots grew on my legs up to the "ankles" of my digitigrade legs, my natural antlers had turned black, shriveled up, and broke off of my head at the base. As I looked around the world slowly pulled away from me, the primitive vision of Rooda and Randin stretching off into the distance, shrinking into a small dot. My mind went black and Rooda's voice echoed around me.

"Lord Ven?"

The echoes grew louder and a bright blue light surrounded me, and large spiked mountains rose from the ground.

"Lord Ven?"

I looked around and then I realized the flashback was gone. My mind was back on Toger and I looked down at Rooda as she tried to get out of the cockpit.

"Lord Ven," she looked up at me.

"Rooda-" I looked around nervously. "What happened-"

"I don't know. You just froze, went stiff, stared straight off into the distance."

"I did-?"

"You stared off like a, pardon the cruel analogy," she chuckled,then she went straight to the point. "But you stared off like a deer caught in headlights."

I jumped up and helped Rooda out of her co-pilot seat and we both jumped off the X-Wing down to the flat hilltop. I still tried to think straight, then turned to Rooda.

"Are you okay?" She asked again.

"Yeah-" I said nervously. "Yeah."

We both turned and watched as the door on the back of Rakine's ship opened up horizontally, a walkway came down to the ground and both Rakine and Knuks walked out onto the surface of Toger. The other rebels jumped out of their X-Wings with their blasters and rifles, Comet with his Tusken rifle, and they walked to the X-Wing where Dashall, the man with the bad leg, struggled to get out while everyone else held their arms out to catch him. Rakine pointed out to him with the Force, picking him up out of the cockpit and setting him down carefully to the ground, in the circle of rebel soldiers. Bolt and Ronnus help hold him up by his sides, Bolt stuck a walking boot over Dashall's leg cast, and Ronnus turned to me, a slight glare in his sharp brown eyes.

"He's too injured for this mission."

"It's too late to send him back now," Shirante shook his head. "Just help him to walk."

We all turned to the large mountain in the distance.

"We got a long way to go," Rakine sighed and put the Mandalorian helmet back on his head, his voice got deeper and more mechanical. "We're walking all the way out there?"

"We have to," Yoshi Raph-Elan jumped out of an X-Wing and stood by our sides. All sixteen members of the strike force had stood up and we all stared at Mount Harridan ahead.

"Now, this may not be the best time," Knuks spoke up, "but what if we created a name for this team, this strike force."

The rebels turned to each other then back to Knuks.

"Sounds good. Easy to identify us to the people back at Dantooine," Arcinos nodded.

"Alright then," Shirante sighed. "What do we ought to call ourselves?"

The group looked around at each other murmuring ideas for a team name, then I turned to Rakine.

"The Ray Squad," Rakine raised an armored hand. "In honor of my last ship destroyed in the Battle of Kommaden, the _Ray_."

"The Ray Squad," Shirante nodded. "I like it."

"It is settled then," Yoshi stroked his short blond beard with his fingers.

"Now we have a group name, let's be on our way," Nattha pointed to Mount Harridan and Ronnus nodded impatiently.

"Let's move," Shirante nodded and pointed to the mountain, and the entire strike force, now named the Ray Squad, had begun our long walk to Mount Harridan.

"What kind of ship did you fly?" Cornor asked curiously as he turned to Rakine.

"An air bongo," Rakine answered. "It was one of those Gungan ships that move through the water, a bongo. But I had one especially for space and air."

"Cool," Cornor nodded.

As we all walked to Mount Harridan crossing over the rugged terrain, I kept staring up at the sky where I saw the large Star Destroyers up in space, and many bright flashes flying from the space around it. The fight is still going on up there. We all continued to walk in the valleys between the sharp mountains to stay low and avoid detection from the Empire. Few TIE Fighters had broken through Kommaden's blockade of Toger soared down to the mountainous planet surface. We all looked up and heard the sound of an ion engine draw closer to us and we all ran into a small cave in the side of a mountain to avoid being spotted. When we all hid in the cave, I looked out and a TIE Fighter shot at the X-Wings we arrived in. They kept shooting at our X-Wings and the two that were the furthest from Rakine's large starfighter both took the most damage from the attacks and exploded, sending hundreds of rebel starfighter bits in all directions, radiating from two rising columns of smoke.

"Son of a bitch," Shirante muttered angrily as he watched the two X-Wings go up in flames.

The TIE Fighters shot at the other X-Wings only for their laser cannon shots to be repelled off and shot back up into the air. Rakine's starfighter and the other X-Wings were well protected under the attack from the TIE Fighters.

"Shields up," Rakine chuckled, then turned to the rest of the Ray Squad in a serious tone. "Okay, who didn't put up their shields when they landed?"

I winced and looked to the ground, then back at the strike force. They all looked at me somewhat irritated. They knew.

"Well how was I supposed to know the ships had shielding systems?! I've never flown an X-Wing before."

"He's right," Rooda stepped up to defend me. "We had no way to know that the ships had shields."

"Very well," Yoshi Raph-Elan turned to Dashall. "And your X-Wing, why wasn't your shield up?"

"We were trying to get him down to help us," Gaarer said to Shirante and Yoshi. "Don't take it so hard on us for one faulty landing. Venison has had no experience flying any X-Wing and Dashall's leg is broken."

I looked down at Dashall's injured leg, it was wrapped in the large black cast to contain his leg. He still walked with the walking boot over the cast. It looked as if it had never broken when he fell off the obstacle course in the training center. But he still had a limp when he walked.

"Let's just keep moving," Knuks motioned the group to continue through the cave to avoid Imperial detection, since now they know we're here. Kalina, Arcinos, Cornor, Gaarer, Gobus, and Ronnus turned on a light on their blaster rifles and pointed into the deeper cave, lighting the walls up with the lights from the rifles. They started walking through the cave. The rest of the Ray Squad continued moving to Mount Harridan with their blasters in their hands. Yoshi, Rakine, Rooda, and myself still had our lightsaber weapons.

Annoyed by the destruction of the two X-Wings, Shirante gave me a short glare.

"Better learn fast newbie, because not knowing something could very easily be your death on this planet." He turned continued walking through the cave with the rest of the Ray Squad, Rooda looked at me and I sighed.

I knew that this mission to Toger was going to have many sacrifices. If sixteen rebels came in eight X-Wings, and each X-Wing only holds two, and now two of them are destroyed, it would mean that four rebels would either have to stay behind or die here on Toger. Simple math.


	12. Chapter 12

The Galactic Empire knows we're here on Toger, that we're here to help the Togera resist the oppressive forces against them.

"What'll we do now that the Empire knows we're here?" Rooda asked Shirante as we walked deeper through the cave, as it lit up by the soldiers' blaster rifles.

"We get to Mount Harridan before the Empire does," he spoke quietly as the sixteen of us continued through the cave. "The Togera are a very valuable group, we need them to be on our side and help us fight for freedom."

"What if we fail?" Ronnus snapped and turned back to me and Rooda. "What if the Empire does win and the Rebel Alliance dies?"

"It won't!" Shirante silenced Ronnus and he turned forward

"But what if?" Comet asked Shirante in a calm voice, holding his Tusken rifle in his hands. "We're already at a disadvantage as it is."

"I know-" Shirante said quietly and motioned the soldiers to keep moving forward through the cave.

"I think this cave might go on forever," Kalina said as she shined her rifle light further down.

Rakine took the lead and walked ahead of the rebel soldiers, motioning them to shine the lights down to the far end of the cave. He walked far ahead and felt the cave around him with the Force. His mechanical voice from his helmet echoed off the cave walls.

"It does go on and on," he nodded his armored head. "But it isn't endless. It's just a short walk and then we will reach Mount Harridan."

"How do you know the cave leads there?" Nattha asked Rakine.

"Look at this cave. It is not a natural cave. No stalagmites or stalactites. This whole tunnel was dug." We all looked around and noticed now the very shape of this cave, this tunnel. It was a large passageway.

"The Togera dug this tunnel?" Cornor asked.

Rakine and I both nodded.

"This is one of the many passages from the Togera city under Mount Harridan to the surface."

"And how large is the underground city?" Arcinos asked.

"Take Mount Harridan, flip it upside down, and stick it underground," Rakine chuckled. "The Togera all live under the planet's surface in many underground cities. Harridan is one of the largest cities on Toger."

The rebels nodded and we continued on, he kept feeling the cave with the Force and I felt what he was doing. We felt how the cave continued downward from the surface underground. How deep below the surface we were.

"Harridan is much closer than you think," he nodded and all of us ran to catch up to him, and the Ray Squad continued down the cave that the Togera have dug up to create passages from the underground city to the surface.

"The Togera," Yoshi Raph-Elan spoke up, "will they be easily swayed?"

"If we get to them first, then yes." Shirante and Rakine both nodded.

"We need their trust if we are to make a rebel base hidden in the city, so we can easily protect the Wild Space and the other systems and citizens of the galaxy. The Togera being one of those species."

"You said they are primitive, yes?" Rooda asked.

"Yes, but their advances in machinery are growing. They've no technology but they're getting much more reliable on machines and are almost evolving into a more intelligent community so to speak." Gaarer turned to Rakine. "How advanced do you think they are?"

"At least more advanced than the Ewoks or the Zan-Deer."

Gaarer and Nattha turned to me and Rooda.

"And what about you two? What is your species and home planet like?"

Rooda turned to me and then to the rebel soldiers.

"They're primitive, yes, but the Togera are more mechanically advanced."

"Does your species rely on technology?" Comet asked.

"No. We're full primitives, fighting with simple spears and stone weapons."

"Except for you two," Rakine added and looked to the rebels. "They fought with light weapons. She has a lightspear and his darksaber is the same he had when they lived there."

Rooda nodded.

"We got our technology from the remains of an old starship that crashed in the desert. We took whatever scraps we could to live on."

"You were scavengers?" Cornor asked.

"Yes," I nodded. "Scavengers."

Kalina looked at us.

"So how did you both evolve into much more intelligent beings?"

Rooda as I both pointed at Rakine.

"He taught us everything we know. He is-" we both looked at each other and I thought of all I learned about the Force and in the Force, how to successfully fight in combat and how to be a successful fighter. "He's a great man," I added, turning to Rakine and then back to the soldiers.

"Touching," Ronnus turned ahead.

"Where are you both from? What system were you both from?" Bolt asked curiously.

"Zant," Rooda turned to him. "The Zant system in Wild Space."

"Three parsecs past Jakku," Rakine turned to the rebels.

"I see," Bolt nodded and motioned us to keep walking through the tunnel to Harridan.

"We're close to the city," Rakine said as we all kept walking forward, the rebel soldiers lighting the tunnel walks with their rifle scope lights. I watched him as he looked up toward the surface.

"What is it?"

"We need to hurry. The Empire is coming."

"How can you tell-"

"Just go."

"What's wrong Cerivian?" Shirante turned to Rakine.

"Go! Now!" Rakine yelled and the rebels soldiers started to run through the tunnel toward Harridan in a hurry.

As we all ran down the tunnel, we eventually reached an entrance to the underground city of Harridan. We walked through the tunnel exit and into the large Togera city and stared in amazement. Large lizard-like beings ruled the enormous underground city. It was actually a city under the surface of Toger, made up of several underground layers, separating the mechanical lower layers, the agricultural central layers, and the residential upper layers. Large stone bridges connected the layers of the city for the Togera to travel from one area to the other. The upper layers of the caverns that make up the city are full of homes and houses carved in the cave wall, where all the Togera lived. The city was beautifully decorated with these houses, and a large lighting system that brightened the whole underground area. The Togera would live here in harmony. The farthest depths underground were composed of a series of machines. Machines that constantly maintained the city's air supply, lit up the underground city with electrical light, and even cleaned the groundwater that the Togera use both to drink and power the other machines that rely on water. Large groundwater rivers operated large water mills, with large mill wheels that spun in the water, with the air supply machines automatically running and functioning on the water power. The wheels even operated pulley and conveyer systems from the clean water rivers to bring the water up to the upper levels for the Togera to drink, then the waste water would go back down to be cleaned and purified to be used again. The water was also used to help grow supplies of crops on the central layers for the Togera farmers to harvest all the crops and food to feed the entire city. The machines all worked together in a large circle, providing everything the Togera need to survive underground.

"This is amazing," Rooda said speechless.

"We need to get to the main city entrance," Rakine ran up a stone bridge and motioned us to follow after him. "We must warn the Togera of the Empire's invasion."

Shirante and Yoshi ran up after Rakine and Rooda and I joined after them. The other ten soldiers followed after us and Rakine, Shirante, and I ran into the main council chamber, where the Togera that run the whole city of Harridan are discussing the situation with the Empire.

"The Empire is coming right as we debate," one Togera said to the other council members. "What are we to do?"

The four of us entered the council chamber and the Togera all turned to us.

"We will defend this city and its mountain, Mount Harridan," Rakine took off his Mandalorian helmet and reveled himself.

"Rakine Cerivian," they stared in surprise. "How we are pleased you have come to help us."

"Yes but we must decide quickly. We're hoping for a peace treaty, a way to show we mean no harm. We wish for the Togera to create a rebel base for us to work in to protect the galactic west from Imperial danger."

"I see," the red-scaled Togera at the table nodded. "Then we-"

A loud noise came from outside and all four of us, Rakine, Yoshi, Rooda, and myself all sensed the presence of a Sith coming to us, walking into the city to invade and liberate Toger for the Empire.

"Vader?" I asked Rakine, taking my darksaber in my metallic hand.

"No," he shook his head. "She is just as vicious as Vader."

"She?" Rooda turned to him.

"Villity," he muttered quietly.

"Who's Villity?" Yoshi turned to Rakine.

"Darth Villity is Vader's recent apprentice. I know her, she's become a ruthless and sadistic person."

The presence of the Sith apprentice drew nearer and the wooden door flung open and we ducked, the door flew over our heads. I turned to see a female human woman standing before us. She had a partially muscular female build covered in a traditional Sith outfit. She had shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes, and a small white scar over her lip.

"Toger," she spoke softly, carrying a black-handled lightpike in her hands, "I've come with a message from the Empire. Surrender this mountain and its city to the Empire, and the Empire will create a large base here, where we will oversee the Wild Space and take the western half of the galaxy to ourselves. Surrender this mountain or perish."

"The Toger system will not fall to the Empire," I growled and held my silver saber hilt and ignited the long, black blade of my darksaber.

Behind me, the Togera council retreats out of the room and Yoshi stands back, facing the female Sith and grabbing his lightsaber from his belt. Rakine stood by my side as Darth Villity chuckled, looking at me and Rooda.

"Who are these? More Sith?"

"Just step away from them Villity," Rakine took a step closer to her, refusing to draw his weapon. "Your quarrel isn't with me or with them."

She turned to him.

"But I work for the Empire. These two are rebels," she turned to me, "and you're not any threat to me, deer." She pointed a finger at me. "You may have killed a former dark lord and slain the mighty, Force-strong, six-armed Inquisitor. But now, you're messing with me." She ignited a red blade from her lightpike. "You're not a real Sith Lord, and your doe behind you isn't any apprentice. Compared to me, to Lord Vader, and Lord Sidious, you're both nothing. In the Force, you're both tiny little tremors, two Force-sensitive deer with no qualifications to be as powerful as the Sith Order. When I'm done with you, you'll see what a real Sith can do!"

Rakine turned his helmeted head to me.

"It's no use trying to fight her. Avoid any conflict with her if possible," he tried to warn me.

"Get back!" She yelled.

Villity pointed at Rakine and Rooda with the Force and threw them both into the back wall. Rooda flew into Yoshi, and they both fell to the floor. Rakine slid off the back wall and landed on his knees, looking at Villity as she walked to me, lightpike ignited.

"Leave him alone," he said to her.

Darth Villity only walked to me with her lightpike and I held my darksaber ready, she swung her red blade at me and both our blades clashed against each other, sparks flying from our crossed blades.


	13. Chapter 13

Both Villity and I continued to duel each other in the council chamber with our lightsaber blades clashing against each other, sparks flying from our blades with each hit. I jumped up on the table in the center of the council chamber and she jumped up on the other side. We both walked in a clockwise motion pointing our blades at each other. Villity walked to me and swung her blade at me, I blocked and we continued to swing against each other. I kicked her back and swung my blade into her lightpike's long, black hilt, but instead of slicing her weapon in half, the blade simply deflected off the hilt, leaving her lightpike unharmed.

"You think I'd leave my hilt unprotected?" She chuckled and threw me into a wall with the Force, flinging my darksaber out of my hand, then she threw me into the opposite wall of the room, and then slammed me back on the table. I groaned in pain as I slowly struggled to get up. She twirled her lightpike in her hand, her blade swung in a circle with the lightpike, and she readied to attack again.

"Stop, both of you," Rakine tried to plea but we both refused to listen to him.

Both Rooda and Yoshi Raph-Elan got back up on their feet and watched as she stood above me.

I moaned quietly and held a cybernetic hand at her with the Force and sent her flying into the back wall. Then I slowly got up and Force pulled my darksaber back to me, and she jumped off the wall and landed back onto the tabletop. We continued to swing our blades into each other and we stopped with our blades grinding against each other, several sparks flying from our blades. I only glared darkly at her and she smirked back at me, then she backed away. I swung my darksaber toward her in a stabbing motion and she swiftly moved to my side, beside me. She swung her leg behind me, knocking my legs out from under me and sending me down on the table on my back. She swung her red blade, slicing my cybernetic right hand off of my wrist, cutting the mechanical part completely off, and she kicked the darksaber out of my cybernetic left hand. I felt the slight burning pain at my wrist stub and Villity chuckled as she stood on my chest with one foot and held her blade at my head, prepared to finish me off right there.

"Christine!" Rakine yelled at her and instead of impaling me through my head, she stuck her blade in the table next to my head. I could feel the heat from the blade right next to me as she let go of its handle, the lightsaber's blade slowly started sinking into the table. She turned to Rakine surprised as he slowly pulled off his Mandalorian armor helmet and revealed himself to Darth Villity.

"Rakine-" she gasped and stood off of me, jumping down off the table onto the floor in front of Rakine.

Shirante, Knuks, and the other rebel soldiers of the Ray Squad ran into the room and stopped, cocking their weapons and pointing at Villity. Shirante stood before his soldiers and pointed at the female Sith.

"In the name of the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic," Corporal Shirante ordered, "I place you under arrest, and declare your Imperial armies to surrender the Toger system to the rebellion-"

Villity laughed and waved an arm at them with the Force, immobilizing all the soldiers, they have completely frozen and struggle to move, to fight against her paralyzing Force ability. Then she turned to both Rooda and Yoshi as they got me back up on my feet and she glared at me, Force pulling her lightpike to her and activating its red blade.

"Christine no!" Rakine grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her from getting to us. "Don't hurt them."

"And why not?!" She snapped at him trying to free her wrist from his grip.

"They are my friends, Christine."

Villity chuckled and all three of us, Rooda, Yoshi and I, glared at her.

"You're friends with him?!" She pointed at me as I stood between Yoshi and Rooda, Force pulling my darksaber to my left hand. Then she pointed at Rooda. "And her? They're not fit to be Sith warriors!" She shook her head chuckling.

"Just listen to me," Rakine spike calmly.

She looked back at him and the. To us, then she noticed Yoshi Raph-Elan as he put his lightsaber back on his belt and firmly held his brown Jedi robe over him.

"And you've brought a Jedi."

"Former Jedi to be specific," Rakine walked in front of Villity and stood in between her and the rest of us, holding his arms up in a defensive position. "I order you not to kill any of them."

"They're rebels! I'm with the Empire. I have to get rid of them and their rebellion!"

"Okay you wanna kill them, kill them, but when you're done, you go back to Mandalore and tell Mother what you did." Rakine lowered his arms and looked at her with a slight glare. She lowered her lightpike and deactivated her blade. "Cause I know and you know she'll be upset with you for killing my friends."

"Why do you protect these poor souls Rakine?" Villity tilted her head curiously.

"I never killed any of your friends. They may be rebels but these at my friends too. I'm with them."

"You're not actually a rebel are you?" She looked at Rakine.

He nodded slowly

"I am."

She glanced and Yoshi then to both me and Rooda, and she stuck her black lightpike hilt in her Sith outfit's belt.

"Fine," she groaned and turned to Shirante as the other frozen rebels. "What do I do with them?"

"You don't hurt them either," Rakine spoke calmly. "They're all with me too."

She turned behind her and a group of stormtroopers entered, cocking their guns and pointing at all of us.

"And they're with me," she said in a quiet tone and motioned the stormtroopers to lower their weapons.

"Well, how are we gonna make an agreement not to attack teach other if we're both on opposing sides of this war?" Gaarer asked quietly and Nattha shrugged to him.

Loud footsteps sounded outside, walking closer to us, and a large lizard-like being walked into the room through the doorway, his foot claws slashing at the dirt he walked on and his muscular build towering over us. He wore an Imperial Inquisitor's uniform and a black Inquisitor's mask and helmet covering his whole head. He took off his mask revealed the head of another Togera, an Inquisitor Togera. He had dark green scales covering his head and body, and he had two small, sharp horns on the top of his head, and he stared at us all, with his orange, slitted reptile eyes. He hissed sticking his long forked tongue out and spoke in a deep yet soothed voice.

"So good to be home on Toger," he chuckled sinisterly and turned to Villity and Rakine. "And the rebels have made it here as well it seems." He continued to walk around the room flicking his long lizard tail back and forth.

"Easy Mal," Villity rolled her eyes.

"Mal?" Rakine asked and Villity nodded.

"Mal Ralota, he's an Inquisitor here from Toger." She turned to him. "Most ruthless and cunning Imperial warrior next to the former Sot-Kolok."

He chuckled again and his slitted eyes focused on me. Rakine glared darkly at the Inquisitor, a sudden wave of hate and anger consumed him. His eyes turned to the Dark Side as he looked at Mal.

"Well well, Darth Venison. I've heard so much about you." Mal pointed at me with a clawed finger sticking out from his reptilian hands. "So you're the one who fought at Kommaden. You're the one that killed my dearest six-armed comrade and friend. You murdered Sot-Kolok." He growled lowly as he stared at me with his large eyes.

"Mal Ralota," Rakine walked up to the large reptile. "So you're the one who murdered my father on Concord Dawn."

Villity immediately turned to the Togera Inquisitor.

"You what?!"

"The boy's a liar," Mal Ralota shook his head.

"Hello? 'The boy's' my brother, and he has never lied to me once." She walked to him pulling her lightpike off her belt. "You better not have killed our father."

Villity closed her eyes and felt the anger and hate in Rakine, and she saw Mal's actions to be true. He had killed their father. She ignited her lightpike's blade, shouted angrily, and swung her blade at Mal and he simply backs away, slowly walking toward Rakine. She swung her lightpike in a stabbing motion and he simply stepped to the side, the tip of her red blade sank into her brother's shoulder. Rakine immediately steps back groaning and holding his left shoulder. Furious, Rakine immediately drew his lightsaber, his blade igniting and he swung the lightsaber forcefully, Mal backed away from him. Tears almost formed in Villity's blue eyes and she deactivated her lightpike and covering her mouth.

"Rakine- I- I'm so sorry. I-" She immediately ran to his side in worry.

"It's fine- it's fine-"

Mal Ralota chuckled and stared at all of us and the frozen Ray Squad members. Villity held a hand out to them with the Force and she had released them from her paralyzingly Force ability. They could move again but they refused to fire, and only took small steps back.

"Now listen here and listen good! This system belongs to the Galactic Empire, and none of you rebel scum can do anything to stop me." Mal chuckled. "You've lost rebels. You can only run or die."

Shirante looked at everyone in the area then back to the large Togera Inquisitor as he hissed, leaning closer to Shirante. The fifty-year-old man, the Corporal Shirante himself, started to whimper in fear and motioned for the Ray Squad to back away and leave.

"Move out," he whimpered.", and I couldn't help but to give a small chuckle at the corporal's intense fear of Mal Ralota.

Mal snickered and pointed to the stormtroopers, motioning them to open fire on us. Rakine and Villity backed into a wall and ignited their lightsaber blades, Rakine backing away with the rest of us as he tried to defend himself and his sister, despite her loyalty to the Empire. The rebel soldiers behind us took cover and shot back at the stormtroopers while Rakine, Yoshi, and I deflected their blaster bolts with our blades. Rooda drew her two curved lightsabers, ignited their crimson blades, and simply ran through the field of stormtroopers, deflecting their shots and slashing away at their white armor. As we continue used to fight against the Empire's forces I watched Rakine's sister Villity as she slowly backed into the stormtrooper field, motioning Rakine to leave. Mal walked to the rebel soldiers of the Ray Squad as they slowly backed away from him. He tried to scare them away by swinging his large greatsaber blade at them, driving them away, and one of his violent swings struck Levi Nattha in the side of his head. The tip of Mal's blade had struck Nattha from his temple to his forehead, slashing over his right eye. Nattha fell to the ground holding his head screaming and he quickly went unconscious. Gaarer and Cornor quickly took Nattha with them, Gaarer took Nattha's blaster rifle and Cornor quickly took his small body over his shoulder. With an injured soldier, the Ray Squad began to turn back and run through the city of Harridan to the tunnel entrance were we came from, leaving us, the four Force-users to fight them off. Mal Ralota snickered at the running soldiers, put his Inquisitor's helmet back on his head, and turned back, walking away leaving back to his starfighter and TIE Fighters outside the city. Rakine's sister watched Mal leave and ran after him drawing her lightpike and igniting the red blade. He quickly drew his greatsaber and he started to combat her off to the side of the council chamber. Their battle slowly moved out the doorway into the streets of Harridan and they repeatedly swung their blades at each other. I watched him as he fought with his greatsaber, it was like a regular lightsaber compared to his immense size. Villity jumped back and forth around the Inquisitor and he quickly turned to face her, his large lizard tail swung across her face and knocked her to the floor.

"Why do you fight me?" Mal Ralota growled.

"You murdered my father. He may have fought against the Empire that we try to protect, but he was my family!"

Villity wiped one tear off her face and swung her lightsaber again, it repelled off his large, red blade. He swung at her horizontally and she somersaulted under the blade, rolling around him, and jumping back up in the air, spinning in a quick circle, slashing at the Togera's Inquisitor uniform, exposing his tough, scaly back. Then he turned around and they continued to recklessly swing at each other.

In the middle of our battle with the stormtroopers, Yoshi Raph-Elan and Rooda both started to run forward past the stormtroopers to the main entrance of the city. Rakine and I Force threw the many stormtroopers back into the ground and we turned to watch Villity's fight with Mal. They both had crossed their weapons, their red, plasmic blades grinding against each other, then with a violent swing if his blade, he forcefully threw her lightpike out of her hands and he kicked her back with one foot. She slowly backs away from him, drawing an Inquisitor lightsaber from her outfit belt, a saberstaff with a circular ring around with which allowed the blades to spin. But when she ignited its two blades it was too late. Mal had swung his greatsaber at her and slashed at her, leaving a long burning gash across her shoulders. Villity immediately fell back from her wound landing on her back, the Inquisitor lightsaber deactivated and flew out of her hand onto the ground next to her, and Mal towered over her, ready to finish her off. I looked at Rakine and he immediately Force jumped to them and as Mal brought his blade down toward her, Rakine's red blade stopping Mal's and saving his sister's life.

"Brave young man," Mal Ralota chuckled and looked down at Villity as she crawled out from below Rakine's blade, protecting her from Mal. "Your family must be important to the both of you."

"You've no idea," Rakine muttered and his eyes changed to the Dark Side, with hate and anger driving him to kill Mal, for killing his father and hurting his sister.

He flung Mal's blade away and started rushing Mal, by recklessly swinging at him and walking closer to him, causing the Inquisitor to back away. They both kept dueling and fighting in Harridan, trying to kill the other opponent. Sparks kept flying off their blades as they clashed against each other.

I looked at Rakine as he continued to fight Mal, then ran after Rooda and Yoshi to the main exit of the city. When I looked back at Rakine as he gets rushed by Mal and kicked into a wall, Mal stands before him and grinds their blades against each other. Rakine's blade was slowly being pushed toward him by Mal's large greatsaber blade.

"Your rebellion is over Rakine Cerivian! The Alliance will not take Toger."

Rakine looked around the underground city to see that the rest of the Ray Squad has left, expect for me, as I stood at the main tunnel entrance waiting for Rakine. He still continued to hold Mal's greatsaber blade back and the blades continued to spark as they stayed grinding against each other.

"Rakine, we have to go," I sighed, turned to the main tunnel then back to Rakine. "We lost Toger."

"I suggest to get out of there now Rakine," Villity looked at him worried, rubbing her shoulder wounds. "For your own sake. I don't want to see Mal more angered than he is now."

Rakine looked back at Mal, shoved the ligtsaber blades back, and Mal backed away, deactivating his greatsaber blade. Rakine panted quietly and Force pulled his Mandalorian armor helmet to him.

"This isn't over Mal Ralota," Rakine deactivated his lightsaber. "You will pay for murdering my father, and your Empire's expansions will end here."

"I don't think so," Mal hissed. "The Empre takes what it wants, even the lives of those who oppose it." He turned away and motioned the stormtroopers to continue to take Harridan for the Empire. "If we see you here on Toger again, you and your entire army will die."

He looked back at Villity and put his lightsaber back on his armor belt.

"Then take Toger, but remember what he has done to our family." He pointed at Mal and she glared darkly at him.

"I know-" she sighed and moaned rubbing her wounds, then she turned away, conserving her inner anger.

I sense a great want for revenge growing inside her. She wants to kill Mal, but she can't turn against the Empire that they both fight to protect.

Rakine turned and walked to join my side.

"Rakine wait," Villity Force pulled her Inquisitor lightsaber to her and tossed it to her brother. He caught it in his hands. "You'll need it more than I do."

"What about you?"

"I have my lightpike to fight. Besides, I know how much you've been wanting one of those for a long time."

He nodded.

"Thank you Christine," Rakine turned to me and we both ran to the main tunnel out to the surface of Toger.

As we started running up the tunnel entrance, we watched as a large, white sea of stormtroopers continue to run down the tunnel toward us, most of them ignore us and continue running to Harridan, while some of them raise their blasters to shoot at us. Rakine and I simply raised our hands in the air in a surrendering gesture and they all cease fire and continue to run, not even bothering to take us hostage. Either they know what threats we are to them and what we would do to them if they attacked us, or they're just idiots and they're just letting us go. The white sea of stormtroopers passed by us, continued running down to Harridan, and I turned to Rakine as we kept running up through the large tunnel.

"How are we going to leave Toger without enough X-Wings?" I asked.

"We steal TIE Fighters," Rakine chuckled and pointed ahead as Rooda and Yoshi had started hijacking two TIE Fighters that lay in the cave entrance. He stuck his sister's Inquisitor lightsaber on his belt and Force jumped onto the TIE Fighter that Yoshi hijacked.

"How did they get these down here?"

I looked down at the ground, with many other stormtroopers dead on the ground, covered in wide lightsaber gashes in their armor and other stormtroopers still shooting at the TIE Fighters. Some of the remaining stormtroopers near the TIE Fighters turned to me and tried to blast me, I activated my darksaber and I deflected their blaster bolts. Then I Force jumped onto Rooda's TIE Fighter and we dropped into the two seats, I took the pilot seat and Rooda took the co-pilot seat, controlling the laser cannons on the TIE Fighter. I started the TIE and Rooda shot down any of the remaining stormtroopers below. Rakine and Yoshi start the other TIE Fighter and we fly both of the Imperial ships out the cave and over the surface of Toger, the sun lighting up the world around us. We rejoined the rest of the Ray Squad in the X-Wings and they know to hold their fire, that it's just us.

"What do we do now?" I asked Rooda as she sat behind me, still firing down at the Imperial armies on the ground.

"We report back to Dantooine and inform Organa of our failure to defend Toger?"

I looked above as the Stars Destroyers still flew above in space and more Imperial forces are sent below to liberate Mount Harridan. We watched as the parades of stormtroopers march in all the tunnels to the underground city. I then looked ahead quietly as the X-Wings entered lightspeed towed Dantooine, and the two TIE Fighters slowly just fly through the atmosphere. We flew in a slow smooth pace as we soared through the space battle above Toger's atmosphere, where the Kommaden rebel forces struggle to fight against the armies..

"The Rebel Alliance has lost today," I sighed as we flew through the battle area above Toger and back to Dantooine.


	14. Chapter 14

The two TIE Fighters landed on the surface of Dantooine's rebel base and I Force jumper out of the top and pulled Rooda out. We both looked at the other as Yoshi Raph-Elan and Rakine jump out of theirs, and we all jumped down to the ground below. The four of us walked to the central circular elevator area of the rebel base and the elevator doors opened in one side and we all stepped in. The doors closed behind Yoshi and the elevator lowered into the underground rebel base.

"How are we going to help protect the galactic west from the threat of Imperial invasion now?" Rooda asked, breaking our silence.

"Hard to say," Yoshi sighed. "The Kommaden system's rebel fleet has failed to defend the Toger system and the Empire has Toger."

"It won't be long before they set up an Imperial base on Toger and take the whole Togera species as their elite stormtroopers," Rakine muttered. "They will be wen more unstoppable than they are now. First they have Mal Ralota, now they have the whole Toger system!"

"Stay calm, Rakine," I said quietly. "Another solution will present itself," I watched as the elevator descended into the training center and it continued down to the conference floor below. "Hopefully."

The elevator stopped on the conference floor and the doors opened, we all walked into the main chamber to rejoin Shirante, Knuks, and the seven soldiers of the Ray Squad.

"The Empire has Toger and its two moons now. What are we to do?"

"The Empire has taken control of Mount Harridan, but do we really think the Togera want an Imperial base in their underground city?" Comet sat down in a chair at the circular table. "It'll rupture and disturb their way of life."

I looked around the room for a sign of Levi Nattha. He wasn't in here, neither were Thorn Gaarer and Pha Cornor. He must've been taken to the medical suite and Gaarer and Cornor have taken him there.

"How's Nattha?" I asked Shirante.

"He's in the medical suite. Gaarer and Cornor have taken him there to get his eye looked at." Shirante rubbed the black eyepatch over his left eye and sighed.

"What happened to your eye?" Rooda asked him.

He lowered his hand from his eye.

"It's nothing, really."

We all looked at him.

"Just tell us, Corporal," Ronnus muttered behind Shirante's back as he sat at the circular table.

"Fine. Well, if you all must know, I got this a few years ago."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Tell us what happened," Knuks agreed with us.

"Well, newbies, I suggest you take a seat."

Everyone who was standing up sat down and he began his story. Yoshi walked off into another room.

"I was a regular soldier back then. A damn good soldier too. I was even a pilot for the Rebel Alliance. I fought against the Empire in a starfighter when it happened, six years ago. I flew an X-Wing. Not like the one we have here. A simple one."

"A simple X-Wing?" I looked at him confused.

"X-Wings usually only have one seat for the pilot. These X-Wings here have one in the front and one in the back for the co-pilot, the one in charge of the laser cannons while the pilot flies the ship. You should've noticed these ships are slightly larger than simple X-Wings."

"Not exactly a co-pilot," Rakine chuckled leaning against the wall. "It's more like the gunner than co-pilot."

"Just listen," Shirante growled impatiently. "So, I was in a simple 'one-seated' X-Wing, in a space battle above Tython, an ancient planet, when I fought against a small barrage of Imperial ships. I took down quite an effective bunch of them. But my engine was shot in the crossfire. I had to force a landing down on Tython. I had crash landed in a swamp. When I had gotten out of the pilot seat the ship exploded, threw me into a tree. Then as the engine burst into flames, a small, flaming metal shard flew straight toward me and sank into my left eye. The hot metal stuck in my retina and slowly melted my own eyeball away, down to nothing, leaving only an empty socket." Shirante pulled his eyepatch off his left eye and revealed the scarring damage done to him. An empty, black eye socket, with the skin melted off around it. It looked as if his whole left eye and around it had already decayed, leaving behind a skeletal eye socket.

"How did you get the rest of your eye out?" Rooda asked.

"I leaned forward and let the hot metal and melted, bloody, liquified remains pour out of my left socket."

I cringed.

"My eye had completely been destroyed," he continued, "it's purpose gone forever. I was in bad shape back then, until I got rescued and came back. I was lucky to survive they said. They gave me a thorough cleaning and socket examination, then they gave me this eyepatch ever since. Not a glass eye or any cybernetic replacement to fill my socket, just this eyepatch." He pulled the eyepatch back over his head and covered the entire scar.

"How are you still alive?" Rakine asked and Shirante only scowled at him.

Rooda turned to Rakine as he took his Mandalorian armor helmet off his head. She looked at the long scar that runs down the right side of his face.

"What happened to you?" She asked.

"Lightsaber battle," Rakine rubbed the scar on his face. "It happened about two or three years ago. I fought against the mighty Inquisitor Sot-Kolok until he cornered me into a wall, our blades grinding against each other. Just like Mal Ralota did to me on Toger. One blade forced me away and he used his other arms to sadistically draw a line from my eyebrow to my chest. The blade dust touch my eye but the light from the blade blinded me for days. He slowly rubbed the tip of his lightsaber blade over my eye, down my cheek, down my neck, and I stopped him at my chest, forcing his blades away with my lightsaber. I got a long scar across my right shoulder as a result of it." He pointed at his eyebrow with his thumb and moved his finger down over the scar on his face, moving his hand over his right eye, then down his cheek, down his neck and to his collarbone. He then jerked his thumb across his right shoulder.

"That's how you got the scar," I mumbled quietly.

"Indeed it is," he nodded and put his armor helmet back on his head.

Knuks walked to us.

"How are we going to settle this defeat?" He sat down next to Rakine, I felt his small tremor as he sat down. "The Toger system was a valuable asset to us."

"I'm more worried about the Toger being taken as soldiers than their system being used for an Imperial base," Shirante sat back up. "The Togera are violent creatures in combat. And their scaly skin to add to it. They'll be walking destruction to the Rebel Alliance, to the rebellion, to the Republic, and to anyone that so much as spits in the direction of anything that has to do with the Empire."

"We need to go back," Rakine muttered.

"Because of the Empire?"

"My sister's down there."

"Then both the Empire and your sister," Knuks sighed. "She's with the enemy. There's nothing that-"

Rakine growled quietly.

"Empire or not. Apprentice to Darth Vader or Yoshi Raph-Elan, she is my sister. And family does not fight family."

"She's still that valuable to you?" I asked.

He nodded slowly.

"Yoshi and I may have bee trained in the past not to be possessive, but there are people who we still wish we could just reach out to." He turned to me. "Yoshi himself has had feelings for one in the past. About twenty years ago he almost got caught in a romantic affair with a woman named Lourdes. She was a princess that ruled some backwater planet. But he remained loyal to the Jedi code and said to her that he couldn't stay. She told him one day he may return to her if he decided to 'grow up' and abandon the Jedi code. He would the. be able to be with her again."

"Did he?" Rooda asked. "Did he get to go back to her?"

"No," Rakine shook his head. "He hasn't returned to her yet. But the Jedi Order has been dissolved and he is free to go to her now."

"Were there any Jedi who broke that rule of the Jedi code?" Kalina asked from the table, Rakine looked at her. "We haven't been told the history of the Jedi."

"There was one," Rakine turned back to me. "You've heard of Anakin Skywalker? He was a great Jedi, a lethal and cunning warrior, an excellent pilot too. But he wanted to be with one girl whom he lived more than the Jedi Order himself. Padmé Amidala."

Padmé. That name runs through my memory. I know I've heard it before many times, if not this whole story. I closed my eyes trying to remember where I heard it before. Then I gasped, remembering the name when I confronted Vader on Kommaden, after my rant about how his army killed everyone in my old village back on Zant, Randin. The Empire destroyed every living thing there, including my pregnant mother, she died carrying the last gift from my father, before he died. I heard my screaming voice then Darth Vader's deep, metallic voice echoing in my mind.

"You hear me you Imperial hunk of metal?! She was-"

"So was my dear Padmé when she died!"

The echoing voices fade and I gasped again, opening my eyes and turning to Rakine. Now I know what happened to the former, Jedi Anakin Skywalker.

"Anakin is Darth Vader. He was with Padmé Amidala, but she died after-" I stopped myself them looked to the floor. "I don't know if their offspring are still alive or not."

"That's a little stretchy," Rakine turned to me. "Are you sure about that?"

"I am," I nodded.

"Well, if he was a Force-strong father, then his offspring would be sensitive in the Force too. She gave brith to at least one child before she died seven years ago."

"Around the time Organa's daughter Leia was born-" he stopped and thought.

I remember the small tremor in the Force that she gave off when Rooda and I first came here.

"Leia is Force-sensitive," I said quietly. "I have felt her. You don't think-" I looked at each Rakine in surprise.

"Leia could be Anakin Skywalker's descendant?" Rakine asked.

"Well, Organa never told us whether he adopted her or not," Rooda spoke up to us.

"It's all very shady," Rakine said as he sat down. "But neither he nor his wife are Force-sensitive."

"Should we go and talk to him?" I asked.

He stood up, taking my old antler-sabers and Villity's Inquisitor saberstaff off his belt.

"You go on ahead. I have some important business to attend," he walked to a back room followed by Knuks.

I walked to the elevator and opened the doors with my left hand. Bolt's voice came closer behind me.

"Senator Organa is still off at Coruscant with Mon Mothma, in a discussion with the Imperial Senate."

"Right," I turned to Bolt as he stood by me.

"I have received a message from the cybernetic department in the medical suite. Your new limbs are ready."

I looked down at my right wrist, where Darth Villity cut off my entire cybernetic right hand. Then I turned back to the elevator and we both stepped in, Bolt pushed a button that moved the elevator up to the medical suite. He turned to me and looked at my wrist.

"It was her was it?"

I nodded.

"She cut it off with her lightsaber."

"I assure you, you don't need that old cybernetic hand. We have created new realistic replacements limbs. You're going to enjoy them."

The elevator stopped on the medical floor and we walked toward the cybernetics department. When the nurse looked up from her table, Bolt flashed a medical pass from his jacket and showed it to her, granting us access to he department. She opened the doors and we walked through and Bolt walked me to a small room where the cybernetic engineers are holding the new cybernetic replacements for my arm and leg. I looked at the new limbs impressed by the way they looked. They looked almost exactly like my original limbs before I lost them to Darth Vader on the Star Destroyer.

"These are ready?" I asked for a confirmation.

One of the mechanics nodded.

"They have been tested by our droids, they work wonders," a mechanic chuckled. "We want to know if you are ready to put them on."

I looked down at my right wrist where the new hand would be professionally attached to my body. Then I looked at the prosthetic hand and nodded.

"I am ready."

The two mechanics nodded and one of them slowly started to work on my left arm, starting to detach it from my body at the shoulder. I waited as all the old limbs are to be removed, and the new limbs would cover up my amputations, so that it appeared that they had never happened.


	15. Chapter 15

I watched as the mechanics removed my cybernetic left arm and slowly placed the new, realistic limbs, limbs that look exactly like my original arm and ahand before I lost them. Limbs that would cover up any damage done to me, to make my body look as normal as possible.

"These limbs are durable?" I asked as one of the mechanics fastened the new right hand to my wrist.

"Yes they are. They should withstand lightsabers and blasters."

I looks at my right hand as it was attached to my wrist, I felt the soft metal interior as it fastened to my stumped wrist. The hand was fastened and tightened on my wrist and when the mechanic was done applying it onto my body, I stared in amazement at it. I helped my new right hand up and wiggles its two fingers and thumb, then I felt its soft smooth texture and rubbed my wrist with my metallic left hand. If looked and felt like nothing had ever happened to my hand.

"Now the arm," The other mechanic slowly applied the shoulder of the left arm into my body, it immediately clinging onto me. The shoulder stuck onto my body and the cybernetic interior fit snug over my wounded left shoulder where my original arm was severed. I rubbed the shoulder of the arm and felt the soft fur down to the wrist, then I examined both of my new limbs, smiling, astonished. I looked and felt good as new.

"Wow-" I'm speechless. "How did you manage to do this?"

"Lots of experience with cybernetics before. Both of them have many great upgrades unlike most of our limbs. You may have noticed they latch onto your body,."

I looked at my left shoulder and my right hand.

"I did notice."

"The machines used to make our limbs are advanced, knowing when to latch on and mend to your body. They'll be sturdier than even the large metal towers on Kommaden. They're indestructible and they'll be permanently attached onto your body as if it were a real arm and a real leg."

"That's wonderful," I looked back at my new limbs, rubbing the fur on the shoulder and wrist. "Thank you and the cybernetics department for creating these new limbs for me."

They both nodded to me.

"Our pleasure Lord Venison."

I got up and walked out of the room to be greeted again by Bolt, and we both walked down the hall to the exit of the medical suite.

"You'll be very pleased with these new limbs."

"I already am," I chuckled. "They're very realistic, they won't break, they withstand lightsaber and blaster bolts they said. And they look as if nothing ever happened to me." I laughed. "It's awesome."

Bolt chuckled.

"Wonderful."

I looked ahead as we walked out the doors of the medical suite to the elevator and I stopped, turning to Bolt.

"Nattha, is he alright?"

"Oh, yes he is. We have him here too. He's being treated for his eye wound. Would you like to see him?"

"Of course," I nodded.

Bolt motioned me through a door and we walked down another hall into the main hospital section of the medical suite. We continued walking down the hall and I raise my ears, hearing Thorn Gaarer's voice in a nearby room. His voice is interrupted by groaning, the. It escalated into loud screaming. I remember when I first got my antler-sabers, when I had my antlers chopped off and drilled into for the metal replacements. I know the tremendous pain that Nattha is experiencing.

"Now calm down Levi," I hear Gaarer's voice as he tries and stop his pained screams.

Bolt and I walked into the room to check on him. As we walk in the room they were in, a medical doctor had injected something into Nattha's forearm. Levi stopped screaming and he slowly grew more drowsy, eventually falling asleep and his head tilted back, his face pointed to the ceiling.

"A sedative," Pha Cornor said quietly as he slouched forward in a chair in the corner of the room.

"He'll be nice and tranquilizer," the doctor turned to Gaarer. "We can help clean and fix his wound now."

"Thank you," Gaarer nodded to the doctor and sat in the chair next to Cornor.

"Is he alright?" I asked and turned to Gaarer and Cornor.

"He'll be fine," Gaarer nodded and stroked his brown goatee. "He's alive, and that's all that matters."

"How do you know he's okay?" I questioned Gaarer.

"To be honest, Levi gets hurt on every one of our missions," he chuckled. "Our first mission against the Imperial army, Senator Organa told us to break a leg."

"And-" I waited for him to continue.

"And Nattha did," Cornor shook his head chuckling, his arms folded over his large body as he leaned against the back of the chair.

"So he's fine," I said with uncertainty.

"Yeah, he'll just have a large scar and permanent eye damage," the doctor said as he treated Nattha's eye wound.

"Well I hope he'll still be able to help us fight," Bolt looked at Nattha as the doctor examined the burning gash across his right cornea.

I remember how Corporal Shirante lost his left eye, how he got a flaming chunk of burning starfighter metal lodged in his retina, and how his eye melted out of his socket, how the skin melted around his eye socket, leaving a skeletal image under his eyepatch. Then I thought about Arcinos, the soldier who was completely blind in the right eye, without any scars or any visual signs of damage. He only had a blank white pupil.

"Seems a lot of people are having eye troubles," I muttered.

"Yeah," Cornor said quietly in the chair.

"We better report back to the Ray Squad," Bolt turned to me.

I nodded slowly.

"Yeah," both Bolt and I walked out of the room and looked back at Gaarer and Cornor as they sat in the chairs in the room, while Nattha was getting his eye examined. Then we both walked down the hall to the exit of the medical suite, not a word to say to the other. Bolt opened the door and we both walked out, heading toward the elevators at the center of the base.

I felt Rakine's presence still on the conference floor, in the back room. He was using the Force to construct something. Bolt and I stepped in the elevator and descended down to the conference floor to rejoin the other rebels of the Ray Squad.

"How are we going to defend the rest of the galaxy now?" I asked and Bolt turned his head to me.

"I don't know," he said lowly.

The elevator opened on the conference floor and both Bolt and I walked back into the room to regroup with the other rebel soldiers. They immediately turned to me and noticed my new, realistic limbs.

"Ven," Rooda stood up and held my wrists pulling my arms up, looking at my new limbs. She felt the soft fur on my arms and sighed happily, putting one of my hands on her cheek and leaning her head into the palm of my hand. I rubbed her cheek with my thumb, it slowly rubbed across the side of her face and she smiled, looking at me. "These limbs- they're-" she began to stammer. "They're-"

"They're perfect," I chuckled. "They look and feel just like my old limbs." I smiled and embraced her in my arms, she hugged me by my chest and looked up at me.

"They're absolutely beautiful," a tear of joy fell from one eye. "I've never seen you look so normal in such a long time."

I sighed and we stood silent in an embrace, I rubbed the top of her head with my new hoofed hand.

"Yeah," I mumbled softly.

"I hate to interrupt your cute little moment," Comet cleared his throat and back leaned in his chair, propping his feet on the table, holding his Tusken rifle in his hands. "But we're trying to figure out how to win back the Toger system from the Empire."

"Yeah-" I sighed looking down at the floor.

Rakine walked out of the back room holding his sister's Inquisitor lightsaber by the hilt in the circle, and I noticed what he did to my old antler-sabers. He used the Force to disassemble the lightsabers and mend them all together, creating a new lightsaber. My antler-sabers are now attached additions to the circular part of the lightsaber. The ring now has ten blade emitters, the two Inquisitor blades, and the eight antler-saber blades, all equidistant from each other.

"I've been working on a new weapon," Rakine said quietly, holding the ten-blades weapon in his hands.

"What for?" Yoshi Raph-Elan asked him.

"I'm going back to Toger. I'm going to fight Mal Ralota and get my sister back."

"I'm afraid that your sister may be gone forever, Rakine. Christine is gone, now Darth Villity has taken control. Lord Vader and the Empire have taken your sister as their own soldier."

"I refuse to just let her go like this," Rakine walked to the elevator. "I'm going to go talk to her."

"And Mal Ralota?" Ronnus turned to Rakine.

"I will destroy him."

Knuks got up from the table running to Rakine's side.

"I'll come with you."

Rakine shook his head and held a hand out to Knuks, stopping him.

"No. I'm going alone. I will not risk anyone getting hurt on my mission."

Rakine walked into the elevator holding his new ten-bladed, circular lightsaber, and putting his Mandalorian armor helmet over his head. He closed the doors of the elevator and ascended up toward the surface. Knuks turned to both me and Rooda.

"What do we do now?" Rooda asked.

I sat down and looked up at the rising elevator, not saying a word. I rubbed the soft fur on my new arms and hopes nothing bad would happen to Rakine. He's the Ray Squad's best melee fighter, strong with the Force, protected by his family armor, and excellent with any type of lightsaber. I wonder what kind of damage his new ten-bladed disc-saber would do to any opposing force now.


	16. Chapter 16

Rakine Cerivian flew his large black, X-Wing-shaped starfighter to the Toger system, a hatred for the Togera Inquisitor Mal Ralota surged in him. After all, Mal had killed Rakine and Villity's father on Concord Dawn. He wanted to earn his sister's trust and get her to fight with him against the Togera who crushed their family.

Rakine's ship, the _Maul_ , named after the Sith warrior, had flown to the space battle as it was near to ending. The remaining ships from the Kommaden system had began retreating from Toger and waves of Imperial TIE Fighters started to advance down to the planet.

He flew his ship carefully, evading detection from the Imperial fleet as he reached Toger's atmosphere. He flew straight down to the sharp mountains and he started to glide the ship over the mountaintops looking below for a place to land the ship.

"Where to land-" Rakine muttered.

The _Maul_ continued to glide down over the rocky surface of Toger and he watched ahead as TIE Fighters flew down to Mount Harridan in the distance. He turned the ship to a large cave near the same landing spot where the Ray Squad landed their double-seated X-Wing starfighters on their first mission to Toger. The _Maul_ landed inside the cave, the black X-Wing-shaped ship blending in with the darkness of the cave. The doors of the ship opened and he walked out into the cave, closing the doors and concealing the Maul from the outside entirely. He walked out of the cave and listened carefully as TIE Fighters flew overhead.

"How am I going to get to Harridan?" He mumbled annoyed.

He peered to the landing spot where the Ray squad landed before and his eyes drifted to the tunnel that led straight to the underground city. In a hasty attempt, he ran through the valleys to the tunnel and managed to successfully avoid being spotted by the TIE Fighters. He sighed in relief and walked into the tunnel, walking down to the underground city under Mount Harridan. Taking his simple lightsaber off his belt and igniting it, the red aura from the blade lit up the walls with red light as he walked down the tunnel.

"How has the Empire gotten to Harridan's underground city without finding all these tunnels?" Rakine's voice echoed quietly along the cave walls.

He continued walking for several minutes through the tunnel when he finally reached the underground city. Already the stormtroopers marched the bridges of the layered city, rounding up as many Togera as they can. The Togera all had their hands on their heads as try walked in groups to the main area at the top of the city, where the council chamber and the imperial armies await them. Both Vader's apprentice and Rakine's sister, Darth Villity, and the infamous Inquisitor, Mal Ralota, stood before the Togera and watched as they were all rounded up, bowing in fear at the Empire's force.

"Mal-" Rakine muttered and his eyes drifted to his sister, a worried expression grew on her face and she turned her head away. She felt his presence, she knew he was there, that he came back.

"She knows I'm here," he sighed, and he watched her as she walked slowly into the council chamber.

It was his time to get to the top unnoticed. He ran to a wooden elevator with a rope pulley system and he used the Force to pull a lever which brought him up to a higher level. He then Force jumped off the elevator to a building wall and jumped off the side as soon as he hit the wall. He continued wall jumping up to the higher areas and hid up on a higher platform, watching the Imperial armies carefully, to make sure he hasn't been noticed. He sighed in relief and jumped up on a stone bridge, running up to the council chamber at the top. As soon as he heard stormtroopers started marching down the corner toward the bridge he was on, Rakine quickly hid behind a wall when they turned the corner. He tries not to move and attract their attention, and the marching stormtroopers just walk by, unaware of Rakine's presence, or even that he was hiding.

"I can't kill any of them, it'll attract attention," he whispered to himself as the stormtroopers walked down the bridge to the lower regions of the underground city. When they were all out of his sight, he walked out of his hiding spot and continued up to the council chamber.

"Rakine."

He stopped and looked behind him as his sister Darth Villity walked to him, putting her hands on her hips.

"Christine."

They both stood tall and looked at each other, putting their lightsabers on their belts.

"Why have you come back?" Villity asked him.

"I came to talk to you. It's-"

"It's about Mal, is it?" She walked to him and they both began walking into the council chamber. "I know he killed our father, he disrespected both of us, but there's not a thing I can do about it. I can't turn against him now without leaving a bad look on myself. I would have to betray the Empire that I fight for."

Rakine looked down at Mal Ralora below as he walked from one building down to a bridge, walking to the lower sections of the city.

"What does Mal even want to kill you and your stag friend?"

"Because Venison killed Sot-Kolok, the six-armed Inquisitor." Rakine glanced back at Villity. "Sot-Kolok. How did he get all those Force powers? He wasn't Force-sensitive in my last encounters with him."

She looked at Rakine.

"About that, I may have found out what gave him such unnatural abilities. Even Lord Vader was disgusted by Sot-Kolok's acts."

"What did he do?"

"He has been searching the galaxy for any remains of dead Sith or Jedi alike, extracting as many surviving midi-chlorians as possible. He used as many as he could to create himself a weapon."

Rakine shuddered slightly.

"A weapons that Lord Venison has destroyed," Rakine chuckled shaking his head. "I have fought Sot-Kolok for years, many fights between us, and now Venison comes along and kills him on the first try."

Villity chuckled.

"He may be powerful," she nodded. You and your friend are fighting forces."

"But you, and Venison, and myself are all powerful warriors. If you came with me to the rebel base on Dantooine you could join the rebellion."

Villity smiled a little and thought of what Vader and Mal would do to her. She would be on the top of the Empire's hitlist. Her smile faded into a frown and she looked down.

"I can't."

Rakine shook his head in disappointment.

"I see."

Rakine started to walk away and she ran to his side.

"I'm sorry. I can't just betray them." She paused and came up with a thought. "But you're forgetting that there is another one who can help you. Have you tried talking to Acther?"

Rakine looked ahead shaking his head.

"No. I haven't. I have no idea where he is."

"Search your feelings, Rakine," she chuckled and waited for Rakine to continue for her.

Rakine chuckled mimicking another Jedi Master, holding his hands over his ears, pointing his thumbs and fingers out, as if he had long pointy ears.

"Search your feelings you must, Rakine," his voice was mocking Yoda's, "and find Acther you will."

They both started laughing and he looked at her again.

"We may be on opposite sides of the war but were still family," she smiled and hugged her younger brother. He hugged her back.

"I will find our brother, Christine," he said quietly. "I will find Acther."

"Good. Maybe he'll be able to help you better than I can. Where do you think he could be?"

"He might be home on Mandalore," Villity sighed. "He never did actually meet Father. One of them was always gone whenever the other came home. It's sad."

"Yeah," Rakine looked down. "Acther's got to be home now. If he's not, then I'll look for him. Nevertheless, I'm going to go talk to him."

Both Rakine and Christine hugged each other and looked at each other before parting.

"I suggest you hurry, Rakine. Mal is probably looking for you."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "My ship is outside the city."

"Hurry," she looked at him motioning him gently to leave.

He turned away to leave.

"Rakine," she smiled. "May the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with you," he nodded and turned away, then Force jumped down onto a lower bridge, to try and avoid the Imperial armies on his way out of the underground city.

* * *

I sat in a chair in the conference room while the soldiers of the Ray Squad all stood in a circle around a table. Shirante and Ronnus talked about how the Toger system is being taken by the Empire.

"Toger has two moons," Gobus looked up at Ronnus and Shirante with his beady blue eyes. "What if we took one of those moons?"

"Yes-" Dashall sat down in a chair next to me and groaned, relieving the pressure from his broken leg. "Both Tei Tenga and Tiu Er are small, unnoticed moons. If we take one of them and set up a rebel base, we may yet be unnoticed by all. Especially by the Empire and the Togera themselves."

"Going back to the Toger system is a risky move all in itself," Yoshi Raph-Elan sighed as he stood up in a chair. "But maybe a solution will present itself."

I looked around at the group and my eyes drifted down to Dashall's boot-like cast.

"How bad is it?" I asked Dashall curiously.

"It's in pretty bad shape now," he winced and lay his bad leg on his other knee. "It'll be about a month or two- or even three- before it heals again."

"It snapped, did it?"

Dashall nodded.

"I landed straight on my foot and the impact shot my leg bones up into each other. One of them snapped pretty bad."

I put a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. You may be able to recover from this, and you're leg will be better than ever."

"I hope," Dashall sighed.

Rooda came to me and sat in the chair next to me, opposite side of Dashall.

"Hey," she smiled, "think you could talk to me more of the Force?"

"I can try," I chuckled. "I'm not sure I know the 'whole' story."

"Well the Force isn't something easily explained,"

I tried thinking of how to explain it.

"Rakine told me when I first began learning the Force, that there are small organisms inside us called midi-chlorians. These midi-chlorians live in a mutual symbiotic relationship, we both benefit each other. With these midi-chlorians, one is able to try learning the Force."

"So these things let us learn and use the Force?"

"Yes."

"How many midi-chlorians are inside us?"

"I'm not sure. At least a few thousand? If not, more?"

"Hm," she looked at the group of soldiers at the circular table as they debated and she turned her head to Yoshi as he sat in a chair. She turned back to me.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"You know how Yoshi Raph-Elan mentioned a backwater planet before, right? He mentioned there was someone named Lourdes who he has never seen again. Do you think he wants to go back to them?"

"Of course I do," Yoshi stood up and walked to us. "Lourdes and I were close once. She ruled the planet like a princess, and we were both thick as thieves. But when I told her I had to go back to the Jedi Order, she told me to come back when I 'grew up'." He sighed. "She didn't like my ties to the Jedi way."

"But the Jedi Order is gone," Rooda said.

"Yes, it is," Yoshi rubbed his blond beard. "And I have no code to stick to anymore."

"You're going back to her, are you?" I asked him.

"The hell I am," he chuckled and Force pulled his brown Jedi robe to him and put it on. "But I cannot afford to go alone. I may need a chaperone to accompany me."

I stood up from my chair.

"I'll go."

Rooda stood next to me.

"As will I."

Yoshi nodded at us.

"Good. The TIE Fighters are still up at the top."

"Just a minute," Shirante turned to us. "You're not leaving are you?"

"I have a simple errand to run, and these two are coming with me."

Shirante nodded.

"Be quick."

Yoshi nodded and turned to us.

"Let us be on our way."

The three of us walked to an elevator and opened the doors. Yoshi pushed a button to the top of the base and the doors closed, the elevator ascended up from the conference floor, past the living quarters and up to the training center. Yoshi stroked his chin and looked up as the elevator moved up past the training center and ascended closer to the scaffoldings at the top of the base. "We need those two TIE Fighters. They have seats for us all."

"All?" Rooda turned to him.

"I would like it if Lourdes could come with us to the base. If she is willing to join us in our fight against the Empire, her system won't be far behind. We'd have another system to join our rebel cause."

"Or you want to bring her here because you've fallen for her," Rooda chuckled.

Yoshi looked ahead at the scaffoldings that hold up the walls of the rebel base.

"We've had a close relationship before. That doesn't mean we have a spark of hope between us now."

"She did say she'd want to come back."

"She may have changed by now," Yoshi protested.

"There's still hope for you," Rooda looked at Yoshi. "When both of us were back on Zant we weren't allowed to have emotional attachments. And we've abandoned our old traditions and were much happier now."

Yoshi looked back up at the elevator top as we slowed down.

"Yes-" he mumbled and the elevator stopped. The doors opened and we walked out to the field that covered the underground base. "This way. We must get to her system."

"Do you know the name of the system?" I asked.

"No. It was uncharted on all our galactic charts."

"So naming a system is hard for you too?!" Rooda chuckled more. "Both Venison and I went to the farthest corner of Wild Space and settled on an empty, uncharted desert planet. We named it after a word in our old language that meant 'lonely'. Ikana quickly became the system's official name."

"Well, easy for you two. You founded the Ikana system."

Yoshi Force jumped up to the top of a TIE Fighter and I stared impressed by his jump. He sailed smoothly in the air with his robe flying behind him. It was like he was floating elegantly for a second. I turned to the second TIE Fighter and both Rooda and I Force Jumped up to the cockpit in the center. We climbed down inside it and I clenched the control sticks in my new hands. The TIE Fighters started and slowly lifted up off the ground, Yoshi steered his TIE up to the atmosphere and I flew the second up close behind him.

"You still remember the coordinates for the backwater planet?" I asked him through the Force.

"Of course I do. Just follow my lead."

Both the TIE Fighters flew up out of Dantooine's atmosphere into space, where Yoshi Raph-Elan was now leading us to the great unknown, wherever his dear Lourdes is.


	17. Chapter 17

The TIE Fighter, which Yoshi Ralph-Elan controlled, flew to a lonely backwater planet, and I starred looking around for any signs of Imperial presence. It looked as if there were no threats to us. Yoshi's TIE Fighter flew down to a large village in the middle of the desert, and we followed. When we flew down through the atmosphere and toward the village, the top of Yoshi's TIE Fighter opened and he Force jumped up on top of it, slowly motioning it down to the desert surface with the Force. When the TIE Fighter landed on the ground, Yoshi jumped off in a quadruple backflip, landing on his feet and walking toward the center of the village. I landed the other TIE Fighter nearby, and both Rooda and I Force jumped out and landed on the ground.

"I have returned," Yoshi chuckled, waving at the people as he walked by.

Rooda and I caught up to him and the people of the village looked at us confused. I notucedthat they all had pointed ears and looked close to resembling humans.

"Who are they?" One of the people asked another, in concern about the two Zan-Deer in their village.

"They're friends of mine," Yoshi chuckled as he walked to the palace of the village. A decorated woman walked outside from the palace, down a series of steps, with a group of other people behind her, as if they were her royal advisers. The woman quickly noticed Yoshi as he bowed in respect to her. Rooda and I both bowed down after him.

"Yoshi Ralph-Elan," she chuckled and motioned him to stand up.

"Lourdes," he smiled. "It's so good to see you again."

She was a fairly beautiful woman for her mid-forties, and with all her decorative makeup, she had looked so much younger. She had pointed ears like the rest of the people on her planet, and she wore a big, golden crown, the brim was flat and circular, as if it were meant to resemble the rings of a planet. Her blonde hair was all tied together in the back of her head, but two long strands dropped down over her shoulders. She wore a colorful robe that covered over the rest of her body, and a big red collar went up against her neck.

"Yes. How good it is to finally see you again," she managed a small smile. "I remember when you helped me get rid of our biggest threat yet, nearly twenty years ago. After we both rid this world of the evil Yank-Tosh lord, Gar-Oth, I've been made the queen of this village."

"I remember that too. And I remember you've longed for a king, that is, if I had grown up and abandoned the old Jedi Code."

"And I see you HAVE grown," Lourdes chuckled, acknowledging the beard that has grown on Yoshi's face. "You didn't have any facial hair the first time we met. Hopefully, you can stay here to help?"

"The Jedi Order has been destroyed, and every remains of the old Repubkic, gone. I was a Jedi Knight when it happened, therefore I have no more Code to follow."

The queen smiled.

"Good."

Lourdes eyes turned to both Rooda and myself as we stood behind Yoshi.

"And who are these strange beings?" She asked as she walked past Yoshi to get a better look at us.

"These are friends of mine," Yoshi chuckled. "This," he put a hand on Rooda's shoulder, "is Rooda. And this," he turned to me, "is her boyfriend and fellow warrior, Darth Venison, a Lord of the Sith."

"Darth- Venison-" she chuckled shaking her head as she looked at me. "Oh my, dear, do you have any clue what that name means?"

I turned to Yoshi with a nervous grin, waiting for an explanation.

"Venison is a kind of cut of meat. Deer meat to be specific."

I turned to Lourdes.

"Yes, I am well aware of what my name means, and frankly, I'm not too pleased about it either. The title was first given to me by a cruel old Sith Lord, who took me as his new apprentice. He picked it as a form of cruel humor, to mock me and insult my species as a whole. Thought it would be funny to make me look like a joke in front of the Empire," my anger starts to rise, "and by disgracing MY people-"

Rooda put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down.

"So I destroyed him when I had the chance. And now that name is stuck with me, like the tattoos on a Nightbrother."

"I understand," the queen nodded respectfully. "I can see your pain, my Sith Lord."

"I still carry it, not as a burden, but with pride. At least it'll give me the recognition I've lost a year ago, when my entire village had disgraced and wronged mean my home planet, Zant. Luckily I had one brave doe to help me pull through."

Rooda smiled softly.

"I see," Queen Lourdes looked a man up at her palace and motioned us to follow her. "We have much to talk about. This way please."

We walked up the steps to Lourdes' palace, it was a grand building,much more decorated than the other buildings down in the backwater village. She walked us through her main entrance, a grand hallway with the walls decorated in banners and beautiful stained-glass windows.

We followed behind her royal advisers until they continued to walk down the hall, and Lourdes turned her attention to us.

"Follow me through here."

She slowly started to rub her hand across the smooth sandstone wall until she reached a brick that barely stuck out from the wall. It wasn't even noticeable. When she pressed it fully into place, the wall started to open, revealing a secret passage that lead down in a spiral staircase. Only the torches on the walls kept this secret opening lit up.

"Not even my own advisers have any knowledge of this passage. My father only told me about this when I was just a little girl. That was long before Gar-Oth came and had him publicly murde-," she cleared her throat, "-executed. Twenty years ago. He told me this passage led to an underground area, a safe haven where the villagers could hide in case there ever became a situation or attack from the sky above."

"How come you have never showed me this before?" Yoshi asked as we all started to walk down the staircase into a large underground chamber.

"I've never had to show you this before. And if I did, then Gar-Oth would have found out and discovered it, and that would just lead to even more disaster."

"Of course," Yoshi mumbled. "Forgive me for asking."

Lourdes turned to him.

"I have a question, Yoshi. Would you be willing to stay here and help me rule this land? I know it's sudden and it's straight out from nowhere, but I could really use your help. And we've made a promise about this."

"Well, I'm sorely tempted to accept that offer. But I'm afraid we have other things to discuss first. Have you heard the atrocities of the Galactic Empire?"

"Only rumors, I'm afraid. I'm not quite sure which are true or not."

"Remember what I said about the Jedi Order being destroyed?"

Lourdes gasped.

"Yes. And they're constantly taking new systems into their grip. The more that Empire continues to expand, the less time we have to fight back. I'm afraid that they're going to take the Toger system. We've failed to defend it once, and we need to win it back. The Togera are a strong and easily-manipulated race. If the Empire takes them to be their soldiers, then-" Yoshi rubbed his forehead. "We have to win."

"Of course. You want to keep the galaxy safe, yes?" Lourdes smiled softly.

"I do. And so does the rest of the Rebel Alliance."

Lourdes turned to both Rooda and myself.

"Are you fighting the rebellion too?"

"We are," Rooda nodded. "We all tried to defend the Toger system from peril."

"You surely are a courageous bunch," Lourdes nodded respectfully. "If this Empire is going to continue to take star systems, then what do you propose we are going to do about it if they find us here?"

"We may have to prepare ourselves for an invasion," I turned to Yoshi with concern.

"And if they do come, then maybe this underground shelter will finally have a use. We can use this massive underground system to hole everybody in the village in case of an aerial attack. The Empire's been known to shoot at any buildings and objects before they land their fleet on the ground."

"Then I have decided," Lourdes turned to us. "If you're all going out to protect the Galaxy, then I will come with you. As for this village, I'll be sure to inform the advisers of the five locations for each underground stairway."

"Five?" Rooda asked.

"Yes, five. They all link to this network of hallways and shelters. All this space should be enough to house my people during the invasion."

"Well," Yoshi rubbed his back, "it seems we have everything all prepared for an attack. But are you really able and willing to leave this village in order to come with us?"

Lourdes nodded.

"How else am I supposed to negotiate for the freedom of my people? This is how an alliance grows, is it not? If the armies of the rebellion continue to grow, then that would ensure the safety of the rebellion's systems, yes?"

"Well," Yoshi shrugged, "I can't argue with any of that. Very well. I will inform the Rebel Alliance of your agreement to join for the rebel cause."

Yoshi took his holographic communicator and started to conversation with the Corporal, Shirante back at the rebel base on Dantooine.

"Please excuse me for a moment," Lourdes started to walk up the staircase to her palace. "I should go tell the advisers about this underground shelter."

Rooda turned to me as Lourdes started walking up the hidden staircase.

"The more allies we gain, the stronger the alliance is."

"Yep. And if the Empire does find village-"

We both suddenly looked up.

"Right on cue."

With the Force, we both felt the evil presence of another. The same presence we've dreaded since the first mission against the Empire. And the same presence that attacked me and severed me of my two limbs, after I had rescued Karus a year ago. Vader.

The Empire was already here, and we heard the ion engines from the TIE Fighters as they swooped down from the sky and shot at the buildings in the village. Screams rang out and scurrying footsteps were heard all over, from the villagers as they desperately tried to run from the stormtroopers.

I ran up the staircase into the palace to glimps what was happening. I saw the stormtroopers as they started rounding up panicked villagers, and Queen Lourdes as being dragged out of her palace to join the crowd. A large Imperial shuttle was landing in the distance, and the evil Force presence continued to grow stronger the close it got to landing. The bottom wings folded up as the shuttle reached the ground, landing right in the central square of the village. The steam from inside flushed out as the walking platform opened from the shuttle, letting out a loud hiss. I easily recognized he black mechanical figure as Darth Vader, as he walked down the ramp to stand on the planet surface. I knew he knew I was here when he turned his repaired helmet in my direction. He had been repaired from the last battle on Kommaden, after Rakine blasted half of his face off with an explosive lightship. He looked as if he had never suffered any damage.

I ran back down into the underground shelter to warn Rooda and Yoshi of the Imperial invasion, as they grabbed their lightsabers and readied for battle.

"It's Vader. He's here."

We all simultaneously felt his presence as he started walking up the stairs to the palace.

"What are we going to do?" Yoshi asked. "We can't fight Vader. He's the most ruthless Sith Lord the Empire has. He killed a whole portion of the Jedi Order in one night!"

"Save your strength, Yoshi. This isn't the end. I've stood up against him a few times in the past. And we've each left our marks on the other."

I looked at my wrist and shoulder and remembered how he severed my previous limbs. Taking my saber in my hand, I watched as Rooda ignited her crimson blades from her curved-hilt twin lightsabers, and Yoshi's orange blade ignited from his standard lightsaber. I ignited by big, black blade as d we all ran up to the main hall of the palace, to see Darth Vader standing in the hallway, with his red blade pointed at the ground. His mechanical breathing echoed in the palace hall.


	18. Chapter 18

"Venison," Darth Vader said through his mask, his mechanical voice echoing from the palace walls, "I have been looking for you." He held his hand in front of us, pointing his red blade at me. "I've been waiting for you to show your pathetic deer face again, so that I can slice it clean off your body."

Rooda stepped in front of me, holding her lightsabers in a defensive position, so her blades made an X-shape in front of us both.

"You're not touching him," She glared at Vader darkly, her small tremors in the Force starting to grow stronger.

"So you've started to train the girl," Vader looked back at me, twirling his blade in his right hand, lifting his left hand, pointing his fingers out to her.

He started to use the Force on her but she simply tightened her grip on her lightsabers and focused with her own power in the Force, trying to resist him. Yoshi Raph-Elan stepped between both of them and he held his hands out to Vader with the Force. Rooda backed away from them as both Yoshi and Vader aggressively Force threw each other into walls on the opposite sides of the palace's hallway. I walked over to Vader and held my blade over my head with both hands, about to attack him as he groaned getting up, when Vader threw an arm out at me, and knocked me away with the Force. My saber's blade deactivated when it flew out of my hands and the hilt hit the floor.

"You know I'm much more powerful than you are," Vader stood up and pointed at me. "Why would you even try to kill me?"

"I almost killed you once."

"No," he took a mechanical breath, "Rakine almost killed me. You laid on the ground like the injured, pathetic, weak, lonely little creature you are!"

"Injured? Pathetic? Weak?!" Rooda stepped in front of me, walking toward Vader, twirling her crimson-bladed lightsabers in her hands. "Venny is none of the words you make of him."

"I see," Vader chuckled and held a hand out to her in the Force, immobilizing her. "I see your loyalties to him are strong, why you protect him." He began to scan her thoughts through the Force and read her mine. "Yes. I know why you protect him."

Rooda tries to struggle against the immobilizing Force Vader cast around her.

"You're devoted to him. You-" he held his hand closer to her to read her thoughts. "You fancy him. You- love- him." He stopped and turned away, snapping his fingers and freeing her from the Force. "You love him," he muttered through his mask.

I knew why he was so bewildered by what he read from Rooda's mind. He lost his wife Padmé about eight years ago, and he's become emotionally unstable. He loathes our connections, Rooda and myself, and now I see he'll do anything to stop either one of us.

"Why are you so concerned?" Rooda lowly glared at him. "I'm allowed to love who I want."

"Oh. Are you?"

She only nodded slightly.

"Just because you couldn't save your special someone, doesn't mean you should take mine away."

Vader stood still, his heavy breathing echoing through our silence.

"Oh, can't I?"

Vader threw a hand out to Rooda and threw her into a wall with the Force. Her lightsabers flew out of her hands and her screaming ceased when she hit the wall and fell to the floor, only groaning in pain. He started to slowly walk to her and hold his lightsaber ready for an ending blow.

"Anakin!" I called out to Vader and he stopped himself, standing still and deactivating his lightsaber, and he slowly started turning to me.

"What- what did you say?"

I took a deep breath.

"Killing both Rooda and myself won't get rid of your problems, Anakin."

"That name no longer has any meaning to me."

"But you admit you were once Anakin Skywalker," I walked to him slowly. "You had a special someone who was close to you. Padmé."

"Your smooth talk is not needed, Venison. You know nothing of Skywalker's past."

"But you know what I'm talking about. You know how you lost someone important to you. I know how that felt a year ago, when your armies destroyed my village and family." I sighed walking to Rooda as she lay on the floor, bending down and putting a hand on her shoulder, still looking at Vader. "I know that emotional pain, and like you, I would do anything to get rid of it. But listen to me now. You don't have to cause anyone else suffering even if you are suffering inside. Think about this-"

"I am thinking," Vader took a deep breath, "why should I listen to you?"

Rooda struggles to get up and I trued helping her up. Vader kept his focus on me.

"Open your eyes Vader. You don't have to cause other people suffering just to get even with people. You need to let go of your pain. I already let go of mine."

He stopped and held his lightsaber firmly in his hand.

"I knew there was nothing I could've done to save my people, but instead of using that hatred and lust for revenge, I knew how to overcome my emotions, so they don't control me. You're an emotional wreck inside. You know and I know that Padmé is gone and there was nothing you could've done about it. It's been eight years, and you need to let go of your emotional pain."

"I could let go of my pain but the guilt will still be with me. I could let you live your own happy ending, but my hatred will still be with me." He ignited his lightsaber and held Rooda up in the air above him. "But why would I want to stop now? Why should I let others live happily without pain, while I continue to suffer?"

Vader immediately swung his empty hand and Force threw Rooda across the hall into the other wall, then swung his hand the other way and launched her back against the wall near us.

Furious now, I Force pulled my saber to me, glaring at him.

"If I can't be happy, why should you two be? You're my enemies."

I glared lowly at him.

"I won't just leave you be and let you live happily, let alone let you even live!"

"So be it..." I growled.

I charged at him yelling as I Force pulled my lightsaber to me and it ignited in my hoofed hand. I adjusted the pyramid cap that attached to the pommel, the cap grew the size of my blade to the size of a greatsaber. I then lunged at Vader and we clashed our saber blades against each other. He kicked me back lifting one leg and I backflipped away from him as he swung his red blade at me in a downward swipe. His red blade scraped against the palace floor and I quickly jumped to him in a jump strike, swinging my blade at his armor, slashing his shoulder armor as I landed in front of him. Vader slowly backed away with a grunt and I continued making a few stabbing motions at him, my blade sticking in his stomach armor. My attacks each shoved him back a few steps, and he grunted each time he backed away from me. None of my attacks hit his critical life-supporting device on his body, but only punctured the surface of the armor that protects his stomach. Then I noticed his life-support system was not exposed on the outside anymore, and that the blinking lights and switches on his chest were made to look like his previous life-support system. After our last battle on Kommaden, he had his suit's life support changed. I knew that his suit contained an impenetrable life-supporting device on the inside of the armor.

I quickly spun in a rapid circle in a quick attempt to decapitate him with a swift moving blade, but his red blade intercepted mine, both our blades grinding against each other. He grabbed my saber hilt and yanked my own weapon out of my hand, then he Force kicked me into a wall across the palace hall. I slammed into the wall and fell to the floor groaning. Vader walked over to me and Yoshi Raph-Elan Force jumped in front of me, defending me from Vader's blade and my own. They both stood still staring each other down.

"Yoshi Raph-Elan," Vader said to him in surprise. "I am surprised to see you still alive. I had expected General Grievous to have killed you on Malastare."

"My death was greatly exaggerated," Yoshi chuckled and Force shoved Vader back, twirling his lightsaber in his hand, the orange blade slicing through the air. Vader walked back to him they smashed their blades against each other and made narrow attempts at slicing each other. Yoshi Force jumped up in the air to a wall and landed on his legs, and I stared in surprise as he stood on the wall of the palace.

"Your tricks are clever, old Raph-Elan," Vader walked parallel to the wall and both he and Yoshi pointed their blades at each other. "But you aren't as powerful in the Force as you believe."

"Is that so?" Yoshi managed a smirk. "If that is so, how come you haven't mastered the anti-gravity techniques. Levitation, wall walking, flight."

Vader threw his lightsaber impatiently at Yoshi Raph-Elan and with a swift dodge, the tip of the swirling blade slashed through Yoshi's brown robe and the lightsaber flew back into Vader's hand. Yoshi jumped off the wall and hovered up in the air above Vader, swinging his blade arrogantly at the Sith Lord. Vader Force jumped up to him and swung his red blade and my big, black blade at him, Yoshi laughed as he repelled all the hits. As Vader landed back on the floor, Yoshi quickly swooped down to him and swung his orange blade behind him, slicing a huge flaming tear in Vader's cape and back armor. The Jedi landed back on the floor and motioned Vader to follow him. Vader slowly trudged to him and they continued the duel a short distance away.

I got up slowly and ran to Rooda, she was knocked out from Vader's attacks. Afraid to cause more pain, I slowly picked her up in my arms, holding her up in my hands, her head rested on my shoulder and her body limp. I Force pulled her lightsabers to me and held them in my hands as I continued holding her up. As Yoshi and Vader advanced the fight from the main hall to the outside stairway that led into the village, I ran with Rooda to the room where Queen Lourdes and her advisers were taken hostage, gently laying Rooda on a table and running in with her lightsabers, ready to take out the stormtroopers and free the queen and her advisers. The stormtroopers turned to me as I ignited the crimson blades and ran by them, slicing them down and deflecting their shots. After killing all stormtroopers, the advisers all looked at me and the queen I a panic.

"Your Majesty, we have no time to waste. We must quickly shelter or evacuate as many people as we can."

Lourdes turned to her advisers to speak to them and I hear blaster shots sounding outside the room. I walked out igniting the blades and deflecting stormtrooper shots, protecting Rooda's body as she lay on the table. I motioned Lourdes to hurry and I picked up Rooda's body in my arms. Both Lourdes and I started to run through the halls dodging the blaster bolts from the stormtroopers.

"So how are we going to protect my people?" She asked me as we turned a corner to take short breaths. I held one lightsaber in my hand, turned the corner to the stormtroopers, and repelled a few stormtrooper shots while still holding Rooda in my arms.

"I don't know if we can save everyone here. We may have to surrender your village to the Empire." I hid behind the corner dodging a blaster bolt, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but we cannot simply just take this place back."

"Then we must get away."

Lourdes motioned me down a hall into a larger room that looked like a hangar for small ships. Ships that couldn't leave the planet and the atmosphere. Low flying ships that floated above the ground and provided fast speed for quickly traveling the flat deserts.

"These vehicles are for trading goods to the Yalankor Outpost just beyond the deserts. There they have ships that can fly off the planet where we can escape from."

"But are you really willing to leave your people here in the Empire's hands while you join us in the Rebel Alliance?"

"Until I find a solution, a way to save these people and my home, then yes."

"Then the Rebel Alliance will do what we can do reclaim this planet, for the good and sake of your people."

Lourdes sighed.

"I hope."

We both ran to a small hovering vehicle and Lourdes hopped on the back of it, stretching her arms out to me. I handed her Rooda's body and stuck her lightsabers on my belt. I sat on the front seat of the vehicle, grabbing the acceleration handlebars in my hands while Lourdes starts strapping Rooda to the vehicle so she doesn't fall off the vehicle. I started the vehicle and it quickly accelerated out through a small door into a large hangar, where stormtroopers already marched around, rounding up the civilians inside the palace. They turned to us on the accelerating vehicle and I pulled a lightsaber from my belt and ignited the crimson blade, and as we passed through the stormtroopers, I swung the blade slashing through stormtroopers. Some people started to scurry as we swiftly circled the stormtroopers, I slashed down any soldier who tried to attack us. Lourdes watched me as I controlled the vehicle with one hand and killed stormtroopers with the other. She completely strapped Rooda in the passenger seat and she scooted up to the driver seat while I Force jumped off the vehicles and somersaulted across the floor. I continued to finish the stormtroopers in the hangar and I motioned for the civilians to hurry out and find some safety.

"There are underground shelters where you can hide from the Empire. Hurry!"

All the people started to run out of the hangar and I threw a lightsaber at a stormtrooper, the crimson blade plunges through his heart and he sinks to his knees. I Force pulled the lightsaber back to me and looked around and found there were no more stormtroopers.

"Now, we need to get out of here."

Lourdes motioned me to jump on the vehicle and I sat in the back seat next to Rooda. I looked at her as she started to wake up again, she rubbed her head in pain and groaned, then she turned to me.

"What's happening? Where are we?"

"We're still in the palace. We're leaving to an outpost where we can escape the planet."

"And where is Yoshi?"

"He's out there fighting Vader as we speak."

"We have to do something at least," Rooda looked down at the straps that kept her in the vehicle and started to unbuckle herself. "If we're going out there to go help him we have to be ready."

"Yeah."

I looked ahead as Lourdes accelerated the vehicle as we zoomed through the hangar to a hangar door at the end of a hall. She turned the vehicle toward the exit and two stormtroopers ran out of a hallway and started to close the hangar door an cock their weapons. I handed one lightsaber to Rooda and we both ignited the crimson blades, ready.

"Get ready," Queen Lourdes yelled back at us.

The queen held the handlebars of the vehicle carefully and the stormtroopers aimed their blaster at us as the door slowly closed from the ceiling down to the floor. She gripped the handlebars tightly and quickly jerked to the side, the vehicle fell of its side and slid across the floor.

The world slowed down around me as the vehicle slid across the floor below the stormtroopers as they aimed at us. I swung the lightsaber in one strike and deflected both their blaster bolts back at them. Rooda slammed her crimson blade into the control panel for the door and the door continued sliding down above us. The stormtroopers sank to their knees and fell dead as the blaster bolts sank into their chests. The vehicle slide completely under the door and I looked back as the door closed on the ground behind us.

Everything started to speed back up and we looked up at the sun as its beams struck down on us. Lourdes jerked the vehicle back up off the ground and it hovered up on the sandy ground as we fled the palace hangar. She turned the vehicle around and we headed around the palace toward the main entrance.

"We're going to assist Yoshi Raph-Elan," I looked at Rooda as we held out lightsabers ready.

"Good," Lourdes looked back at us. "I'll head straight to Yalankor Outpost and negotiate for any transport to get us off this planet."

Rooda and I Force jumped off the vehicle and landed on the sand and Lourdes turned the vehicle and headed straight off toward the desert, to find the outpost where any transport waits for us.

"We have no time," Rooda started running to the entrance of the palace and I followed behind here We both ran back into the main village and headed for the palace staircase, where Yoshi Raph-Elan as Darth Vader continued their lightsaber duel.


	19. Chapter 19

We heard the humming lightsabers up at the palace entrance as we turned the corner and saw Yoshi Raph-Elan still dueling Darth Vader. Vader kicked Raph-Elan off the top of the staircase and watched as the Jedi tumbled down the stairs landing in the village street. Rooda and I ran to him and he tossed me my saber. I handed Rooda her other lightsaber then caught my own in my hand, and I ignited its big, black blade. We turned to Vader as he slowly walked down the staircase of Lourdes' palace, twirling his lightsaber in his hand.

"It ends now," he took a deep breath and swung at me.

I quickly ducked under his blade and swung at him from behind. Vader jerked an elbow into my stomach and I grunted holding mt stomach before dodging a slash from his red blade, by Force backflipping up on top of the staircase. Rooda ignited her crimson blades and Force jumped up next to me, we both look at each other then to Vader as he slowly walked up toward us, Force pulling Yoshi's lightsaber in his hand and igniting its orange blade. Vader Force charged to us and swung both blades at us, we both successfully defend from his attacks. Rooda ducked to avoid being decapitated by Yoshi's orange blade and Vader kicked her down to the ground. He turned to me as I hold my blade ready. I sidestepped to avoid another downward swing from his red blade and I jumped over his head in a flip, my blade slashing against the top of his helmet. I landed on the ground behind him and Force jumped to dodge another violent swing. When I glanced at his helmet, I noticed only a small scratch from my big blade.

"What?" Vader turned to me. "Did you expect my helmet to be vulnerable this time?

"Rooda! I could use some help," I called to her as Vader swung his blade at me, and I blocked with with my own.

Rooda started getting back up and Force pulling her lightsabers back to her as she stood up in front of Vader. Vader turned to her and swung Yoshi's orange blade at her and she crossed her blades to catch the blade. Then she jerked her blades to the side, throwing Yoshi's lightsaber out of Vader's hand. It rolled and tumbled down the stairs and Yoshi Force pulled his lightsaber to his hands as he ran back up to join us.

Rooda and I continued to swing at Vader until he Force jumped up and over our heads landing back in the entrance of the main hall. He slowly started backing away and deflecting our blades, Rooda's two crimson blades, and my big, black blade. Vader Force kicked me back and continued to swing at Rooda, she laughs as she blocks his attacks easily. He swung at her in a stabbing motion and I watched her as she sidestepped to the right and somersaulted under another swing, and she rolled past Vader. Then she sprung up behind him quickly spinning in the air, swinging both her crimson blades at him. His armor gains a few more hot scratches on the back and he quickly turned to her, only for her to make three stabbing motions at him. The blade pierced the armor over his stomach three times, and each stab pushed him back, he was grunting from each stab. Vader groaned and held his stomach briefly, then swung recklessly at her and she backflipped away, still blocking his red blade from hitting her.

"Indeed you are powerful," Vader said to her as he held his blade in front of his helmet, the red aura reflecting on his black mask. "But that won't stop me from destroying you."

"But it may stop you from trying!"

She swung a crimson blade at him and he deflected it, and when she jumped over his head she swung the other over his head, creating another slash across his shoulder. He groaned holding his shoulder and aggressively charged to her, swinging his blade and knocking her lightsabers out of her hands. He Force kicked her into a wall and she groaned as she fell on her knees. Yoshi ran to Vader and I ran to Rooda, deactivating my saber, and helping her up on her feet.

"Don't let Vader throw you around," I said to her quietly.

"I'm trying," she groaned. "It's not that easy."

"I know," I sighed and tossed her arm over my shoulders holding her up. I Force pulled her lightsabers back and I handed them to her. "Don't worry. You'll get much better soon."

She looked at me with a little smile, and we felt Vader was watching us.

"Oh, how touching," Vader chuckled through his mask. "You two are priceless."

Yoshi glared at Vader and swung his lightsaber at him, the fight between them quickly resumed.

I walked Rooda out of the palace and down the staircase to the village where I sat her down on the steps.

"Now, if Queen Lourdes comes in any transport, come and let us know."

"Where are you going?"

"To fight Vader."

She grabbed my arm.

"Are you crazy?"

I looked up at the staircase and heard the lightsabers humming and crackling against each other.

"We already lost this village," I sighed. "But the only thing we can do now is hold Vader and the armies off until help comes."

She nodded and stood up, giving me a small kiss.

"Be careful," she said to me and stood at the bottom of the stairs. When I started running back up, I looked back and she was already deflecting shots from stormtroopers that ran out to her.

Yoshi and Vader continued to swing their blades at each other and I ignited my black blade, jumping over Vader, and now Yoshi and I fought Vader on both sides. Vader swung at me and I deflected his blade, then he swung straight behind him at Yoshi. He clashed his red blade against Yoshi's orange blade and with his free hand, Vader immediately punched Yoshi straight in the jaw, shoving him back. Yoshi stumbled back and Vader swung another punch, knocking him to the side, and with one violent swing, Vader's red blade cut a long, burning gash across Yoshi's shoulder down to his back. Yoshi fell to the floor with a short scream and he landed unconscious on the floor of the palace. Steam came from his back and the brown robe he wore had sparked along the lightsaber's newly torn shred.

I ignited my big, black blade and Force jumped between Yoshi and Vader, Vader immediately swung his blade at me. We both exchange swings at each other as we slowly walk in a circle while we duel.

"Lord Venison, you surprise me. Rakine expected good from you. But you've proven you are powerful in the Force. Naturally."

He swung at me and I quickly blocked his blade again, catching it with my black blade.

"Your concentration in the Force shows you are a worthy enemy. After all, you quickly cut up one of out best Inquisitors on your first go!"

I glared at him as we continued to swing our blades at each other and we both swung them simultaneously, our blades started grinding together as we stood stil.

"Or, I guess Sot-Kolok was not worthy enough to fight. Not with the way he abused the Force."

As we kept our stances straight with our blades still grinding against each other, Vader pulled a Force-sensitive hypodermic needle out from a pocket in his armor and threw it to the floor. I felt the small amounts of midi-chlorians remaining on the needle. They were mostly dead, the last of surviving ones were still dying.

"Midi-chlorians can't live without a host," Vader chuckled. "Sot-Kolok. He infected himself with them. Disgusting man."

We kept still and we backed away from each other, he held a hand up motioning me to stop. He lowered his blade.

"You fought him and you've experienced his power. You thought of how unnatural it was, how no Jedi or Sith could perform such a power. That needle, now you know the source of his unnatural power in the Force. He was never born Force-sensitive, he injected it all into his body. Such a frightening and unnatural method of learning and using the Force provides unnatural powers and abilities, some worse and more improbable than others. But he chose that path."

I stared down at the needle and shuddered in disgust.

"His reattaching limbs are one of many possibilities to dysfunctional midi-chlorians. Unnatural Force powers are the consequence of a destroyed midi-chlorian symbiosis. But misuse of their Force powers doesn't make their relationship to their hosts symbiotic if they're injected. No, they're parasites. As a consequence for their misuse, they provide such disturbing and unnatural power and abilities, few you have witnessed yourself. A power to possess and control anyone's mind in such high circumstances, a power to reattach severed limbs leaving no scars or damage, and even a power to hover and float in the air like a specter."

I looked at him in denial. Sot-Kolok's and even Lord Sorin's unnatural powers can be explained. Both of them were villainous people, with shady histories and strong beliefs in the Dark Side. But floating, Sorin has used that power in our battle on Hoth, and even Yoshi Raph-Elan, a Jedi, has done this too. But Yoshi couldn't have used this method. Injections. Unnatural learning. It's not the Jedi way.

"Yes, floating and possession. Sound familiar?"

Vader knew I knew about Sorin, the Sith who claimed himself a coward, the one that hid by himself on Hoth, so he could use this unnatural way of learning the Force, and he could learn to control or possess anyone he had a bond in the Force with. he could've used them as his own assassins. They were puppets.

"I knew the stories of Lord Sorin Karraticus," Vader continued. "My master Lord Sidious mentioned me the stories about him and his close friend, Darth Plagueis the Wise. Then there's the Inquisitor, Sot-Kolok. Both of them used midi-chlorians as injections, to gain unnatural powers." He pointed his blade at me. "And you eliminated both of them."

I held my saber in a defensive position, ready to block any attack he was planning.

"It's true what I say about these people and how they 'cheat' the Force, and it is surprising to me to know that they no longer pose any threat to anyone. They're gone, and honestly, I should thank you," Vader walked closer to me, holding his lightsaber ready, and I knew he wanted to continue our battle, "but it would be more fun to just kill you."

I knocked his blade away and Force kicked him back, he fell on his back on the floor, still repelling my blade with his own. He Force shoved my hands back and kicked me away while he lifted his legs up off the floor and sprung back up, he walked to me slowly, holding a hand out. I started to feel my neck chafe and his Force grip on me was getting tighter.

"But now your campaign is over," Vader said to me as he continued to Force choke me.

His grip was tightening around my throat. I couldn't breathe, it felt like I was dying.

I heard footsteps and felt Rooda's presence as she ran up the stairs and Force charged to Vader, swinging one of her lightsabers and batting his arm away with the crimson blade. Sparks flew off his arm as the blade scraped across the surface. He jumped back and groaned, rubbing the burn mark across his arm, then he pulled the sleeve up revealing bright silver. No burn or gash was present on the metallic arm, and he looked at Rooda in disappointment.

"I've had to take precautions, if ever I would get hit by a lightsaber. My body is completely metallic and well armored. No blaster or lightsaber can fully penetrate my body armor, nothing can break my enhanced limbs."

"We'll see about that," Rooda ran to him swinging her curved saberstaff, the crimson blades spiraling on opposite sides. She moved quickly and aggressively, but she moved with some grace in her skill and footwork. It amazed me to see how well she fought against Vader, even without training in combat. She knows little of the Force yet she uses it to her advantage. She continued to jump around Vader and swing her saberstaff to repel his attacking swings.

I ran to Yoshi Raph-Elan's body and picked him up, throwing him over my shoulder. I looked to Rooda as she continued to fight Vader, then I ran to the entrance of the palace, to sit Yoshi against a wall. Looking down the stairway to stormtroopers running up toward us firing their blasters, I Force pulled Yoshi's lightsaber to me and ignited the orange blade. I then started to deflect the blaster bolts with the two blades and when a stormtrooper ran up to me, a simple decapitating swipe sent the stormtrooper to the ground, with his head rolling down the stairs. I looked down at the stormtroopers as the shots deflected, some of the bolts hitting them and sending them down.l to the ground. I quickly glanced behind me to see Rooda Force jumping away from Vader as he aggressively swings at her, she deflects his blade with her two crimson blades. When I looked back at the stormtroopers below, the remaining ones continued to fire at me, barely giving me time to repel the blaster bolts. The stormtroopers started running up the stairs to me in an overwhelming group. I quickly deactivated the lightsabers and slung Yoshi over my shoulders and ran back into the palace, running past Rooda and Darth Vader. I stopped and turned to her as he Force kicks Vader away, she hastily turns to me.

"Rooda, we have no more time to waste. We can no longer defend this village."

She nodded and deactivated her blades, and we both quickly ran through the main hall of the palace toward the hangar where Lourdes and I first took the vehicle to escape through the back side of the palace. We both ran to the large metal door that closed behind us when we escaped the first time here. Rooda ignited a crimson blade and she started to slice a large circular hole in the door. She cut through the door and kicked the sliced door down, we walked into the sand sea of the desert. As we ran out to the desert, a large freighter flew towards us and landed just in front of us. I saw Lourdes through the window motioning us to hurry.

A lightsaber ignited behind us and we both stopped, slowly looking behind us, as a Lord Vader walked out of the darkness of the hangar toward us, his red lightsaber blade hanging by his side.

"We're not done yet."

I held Yoshi Raph-Elan and gave his body to Rooda, and she ran back to the freighter as the entrance platform stretched down to the sand. I ignited Yoshi's orange blade and and my black blade as Vader walked to me, holding his lightsaber ready.

"You just don't stop, do you?" I muttered annoyed.

He swung his lightsaber at me and I stopped it with crossed blades. I slowly backed away from him and he Force jumped over me, standing in front of the ship's entrance preventing me from escaping. He quickly twirled his lightsaber in his hand, the blade spinning in a red disc. I backed away more and continued to deflect his blade as he effortlessly walked to me simply swinging at me. The ship started to take off and fly away from Vader and I as we continued to fight in the desert. I watched the ship as it turned around and fly low towards us. I backed away from Vader as the ship flew above us, the landing gear sinking into the bottom of the ship and the landing platform started to rise up. I quickly pushed Vader back and Force jumped up on the landing platform, ducking low under the ship's door as it started to close. I somersaulted under the door as the platform sank into the ship and the door closed. The ship flew straight up in the air to the sky and I stood up walking to the pilot chamber. The freighter flew up to the atmosphere as we concluded our escape.

"What are we going to do to save my home? My people?" Lourdes asked gloomily as she flew the freighter through the atmosphere.

"As long as your people give in to the Empire's demands," I looked to her, "your people shouldn't be threatened."

"I have informed my advisers that if captured, they should simply surrender the village to the Empire. I cannot afford any uprising and loss of lives to plague my people and my home."

I nodded slowly.

"We're sorry Your Highness, about the Empire attacking your planet. But we will report to the Alliance to take it back. We will kick the threat of evil out of your system and all other systems. The rebellion will bring peace to the Empire."

Lourdes let out a low sigh as a tear fell down her right cheek.

"I understand," she said. "And I will do my best to help the Alliance. Hopefully we will reclaim my village, and I will remain its queen."

Lourdes turned to Yoshi as Rooda lay him on a bed to check his back wound.

"And Yoshi Raph-Elan to be the king and rule with you."

She nodded slowly.

"We've talked about it a lot in the past. That we'd be ruling together, after the fall of Gar-Oth, the Yank-Tosh lord that took over."

I looked at Yoshi as he lay flat.

"We came here because of him. He wanted to come and see you. We had no idea that the Empire would come and find us. We had no knowledge of their presence here."

I sat in the co-pilot seat and marked coordinates for Dantooine.

"Our base is on Dantooine. We must hurry there before someone tracks us."

Lourdes nodded and flipped some switches, and as we passed through space, the stars stretched into white lines and the freighter entered light speed and blasted away from the backwater planet.


	20. Chapter 20

As we landed back in the hangar on Dantooine's base, Rooda and I carried Yoshi Raph-Elan's unconscious and limp body into the elevator to the medical suite. I watched Lourdes as he slowly walked by us, looking around the base nervously.

"I do hope your armies will help protect my home and the galaxy."

I nodded slowly.

"We do what we can to help. We won't let the Empire take over this galaxy."

The elevator lowered deep into the base and reached the medical floor. Yoshi started to slowly gain consciousness when the doors opened, and Rooda and I walked him up to the front desk. One of the nurses immediately stood up and opened the doors for us. We looked at her as we walked by, we said nothing. We didn't know what to say.

"Vader-" Yoshi began to mumble. "V-Vader-"

"He hurt you, we know," Rooda looked at him with pity. "That's why we're here."

I looked down at him and turned away. We walked him into a room and lay him on his stomach to examine the burning gash across his back.

Yoshi tried to get my attention.

"Venis-" he glanced at me. He struggled to speak by the amount of pain he felt in his jaw. Vader hit him hard.

I didn't know what to say to him. How to talk to him or look at him without thinking of what Vader said about him.

"Vader told me- some things- Yoshi." I slowly turned to him. "Some pretty- unbelievable things. About the Force."

Yoshi closed his eyes and sighed. He knew.

"Why did you do it?" I asked him. "Why didn't you tell us levitation was gained through corrupt midi-chlorians?"

Yoshi looked at me.

"I didn't- want you to actually know- how to learn- because-" he said softly, "it destroyed me. Deep inside, it did me more damage. I didn't want you to corrupt yourself and make the same mistake I did."

Rooda looked over to me.

"There's a Corrupt Side?"

Yoshi nodded slowly.

"That's what we called it- we who fell victim to it. Three of us used- forceful and unnatural ways to- learn the force without actually learning. I started only about a year after Order 66 was carried out. I was too mentally traumatized to see what I've done to myself. I wanted to test my Force power and see how I would stand up alone to the Empire. I thought I was the last Jedi. Until I found the Rebel Alliance here on Dantooine and became a part of it. I had still slowly destroyed who I was bit by bit, day by day. Injecting, infusing, extracting, removal and transferring of midi-chlorians was never meant to be done. It's how the Force can be corrupt."

"You said three victims?"

Yoshi nodded.

"Myself and two others. An old Inquisitor with six arms. An ancient Sith Lord. They found ways to be stronger in the Force, but at the cost of their sanity and their own self-esteem and awareness. It made them- it made them-" he sighed. "That's why I stopped. I didn't want to be like them."

I looked at Rooda then back to Yoshi.

"They're both dead."

Yoshi opened his eyes wider.

"What?"

"I killed them both. Do- do you remember me mentioning them when we first met? I knew them for their dark power. That's what made them stand out. It's also what made them weak. Sot-Kolok, when I fought him he had almost no flesh. He was almost a walking skeleton. Did the corruption do that to him?"

Yoshi nodded.

"It ruined him dramatically, by how much he excessively injected it into his body. He was once a big and strong man, with a brutal desire for slashing those in his path. Now he's nothing."

I looked down and let it all sink in. Yoshi, Sorin, Sot-Kolok, they all have secretly created this new, grotesque version of the Force. One that feeds off the body like parasites, infected with destroyed midi-chlorians.

"It's almost like a virus," Rooda shuddered in disgust. "Knowing that the Force can do something like that if abused, it gives me the creeps."

"You and me both Roo," I turned to her, then we both glanced at Yoshi.

"I- I'm sorry for the deception and all the trouble that I've caused. I didn't want this heavy burden to fall upon you two. I didn't want you to know who I was. But now-"

I looked down.

"Venison, I hate to say it, but the only reason you are still alive, may just be because they chose to destroy their bodies with those midi-chlorians. If they had refused to fall to the Corrupt Side, and if they had kept their strong bodies and their incredible power, you might not have even survived your training under Lord Sorin."

A horrible chill went down my spine.

"If that's true, then there's no other reason why I lost both my hand and other arm to Darth Vader. I'm too weak!" I stood up and slammed my saber onto the tabletop. "Of course I'm not a real Sith Lord. Vader's right."

I walked out of Yoshi's room in utter disappointment, both in the truth and in myself. Rooda stood up and followed me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Eyt please, don't take this on yourself."

"But I'm not good enough to be a fighter," I muttered softly and looked at her bitterly. "That's why I couldn't be able to train you the right way. I don't know how to."

Rooda looked down.

"Rooda, I'll be honest, I mostly figured this stuff out either from Rakine's attempt at training me in the Jedi Temple, or just through improvisation and sheer dumb luck." I looked back down and clenched my fists. "I'm a fraud, a phony."

"No you're not," Rooda looked at me reassuringly. "I think you're too worried about trying to be this powerful warrior, but you're biting off more than you can chew. Being able to help the rebellion is good and all, but your role as Darth Venison has changed you a lot."

"What do you mean?" I slowly turned my head to her, noticing the worry in her eyes.

"You've become this great Sith Lord, probably the only one who fought for a good cause, but by becoming that, this Force-powerful being, I'm worried that you're slowly losing who you really are, bit by bit. You've dedicated yourself to the Force that it's almost corrupting you in another way. Please Eyt, don't leave me. Don't be so seduced to the force that you'll never be yourself again."

I closed my eyes to let this all sink in. She wasn't wrong.

"I know in trying to be more than I was in the past. Sure I became this ill-tempered and violent fighting beast, and I'm trying to help the galaxy, but-"

"Eyt-" she rested her hand one one of my own hands, stopping its trembling. "I hope you understand how worried I'm getting by your change."

"I know," I whispered softly. "I know what I'm doing might not be good for us in the long run, and maybe the Force is slowly pulling me away from you. And I don't want that. I want to stay by your side, like I promised when we first got together. When we started our own life on Ikana."

She smiled softly.

"You weren't really good with words, you were always too pathologically shy to tell me how you really felt, but I always loved that. Eyt, I love you for who you are and who you choose to be." She gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. "Just be careful for me, okay?"

She gave me a confident smile and a gentle and affectionate touch on my cheek before she walked back into the room where Yoshi was recovering. While I stood there in the hallway of the medical suite, rethinking my life's choices.


	21. Chapter 21

The Maul landed in a small field outside a small, rural village away from all the large and urban areas on Mandalore. Rakine hopped out of the ship and walked into the village as he was greeted by the commoners.

"Your mother was very worried about you."

"Who will help the village now?"

"Mandalore needs you, Cerivian."

Rakine rubbed his hair after taking off his armored helmet.

"Good to be back," he chuckled weakly as he headed to a small hut near the center of the small town.

When Rakine walked inside, there was a middle-aged woman that sat at a table holding her face in her hands, still grieving over the loss of her husband on Concord Dawn.

"I'm so sorry, Mother. I wish I could've done something to help him."

She was unresponsive, still weeping softly.

"H-has Acther returned home?"

Rakine's mother nodded softly and looked over at a young man staring into the roaring fire that cooked a large pig's body, spinning rotisserie on a metal bar over the fire. Acther's white Jedi robes lit orange by the fire as he sat in front of it with his legs crossed.

"Hey there, Acther," Rakine chuckled softly as he sat down by him.

"Rakine," he sighed. "Hey."

"You're upset about Father, aren't you?"

Acther nodded slowly.

"I just wish I could've known him. I wish I could've stayed and waited for him to come home, and that he would've stayed when I came home."

"Yes I know. Real shame."

Acther wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at Rakine.

"That was his armor was it?" Acther asked, noticing Rakine wearing the Mandalorian armor.

Rakine nodded.

"He was out fighting on Concord Dawn, against one of the inquisitors. Mal Ralota."

"He killed him, did he?"

Rakine nodded slowly.

Acther stood up and held his lightsaber tightly in his hand. An anger started rising within him.

"I want to avenge our Father, Rakine."

"You and me both," Rakine said as he put the armored helmet back on his head. "Would you like to see the alliance I'm in? We're rebelling against the whole Empire. And believe me, it's much more fun than hiding out here in exile."

"Fine. I'll do it. If this gets us closer to avenging Father-"

"It will."

Rakine looked over to the table at their lamenting mother at the table.

"We've decided that I'm going to help Acther into the Rebel Alliance. We will fight against that monstrous Empire, and avenge our Father."

She sat up wiping her tears off her face and held out her arms to hug them.

"Please be careful out there," she whispered in her deep voice.

"We will Mother. We promise," the brothers hugged her back and the three of them silently embraced.

Acther looked at Rakine.

"So where will we be going?"

"Dantooine."

"Dantooine?"

"Yes. Dantooine."

Both Rakine and Acther stopped hugging their mother and each bid their farewells as they prepared for their mission.

* * *

I walked into the training arena and watched as the many rebel soldiers ran on the obstacle courses and shot at the holographic images of Imperial stormtroopers. The armies were a vicious fighting force as they shot and jumped and ran through the several arenas.

"They seem dedicated to this Alliance."

I chuckled softly and watched as the two brothers, Gobus and Ronnus, shot back-to-back at the holographic stormtroopers images. Both of them continued to run through the obstacle course that ran above the main floors of the arena.

"Aren't they impressive?" Corporal Shirante asked as he came up behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "They've all been trained since they were little children. Now they're unstoppable."

"Looks like it."

Shirante looked at me, the light from the blaster shots reflected off his black eyepatch.

"But you have a link to the Force, and a lightsaber," he sighed. "That's even more. You could probably kill all of them in a matter of minutes or seconds."

"So could Vader and the other Sith and Inquisitors that fight for the Empire. Stormtroopers won't stand a chance, but against the stronger forces-"

"That's where you and your doe come in. You can fight them off better than we can."

I looked down.

"There's more to it than that. Rooda isn't fully trained in the Force and neither am I."

"Then how did you become a Sith Lord?"

"It's just a title really. I really don't know a lot about myself like everyone here. I'm still learning a lot of tricks and things everyday, and so is Rooda. I once tried taking her under my arm as an apprentice but- it just left a sour taste in my mouth."

"So you both started dating," he rubbed the hair on his head to smoothen it out. "Love doesn't win the war, kid."

"I know."

"What about your friend, Cerivian? He's a good fighter."

"Much better than I am," I chuckled.

"But it was you that killed the six-armed Inquisitor. He didn't do that."

"He fought Sot many times, no doubt about it. But his body deteriorated and grew weak when I met him. I killed Sot-Kolok only because he was now weak. I would be dead if he hadn't-"

"Sounds like dumb luck to me," Shirante snickered.

"That's what this all is for me. Dumb luck and pure coincidence. I'm not a real Sith or rebel, I'm a primitive with a lightsaber. I shouldn't be doing all this for the Galaxy."

Shirante turned away and folded his arms, I felt the disappointment in him rising tremendously.

"You should be dead, is that what you're saying?" He asked bitterly.

"No. Nobody likes the thought of death, but realistically, if I wasn't trained by Rakine into the Force, and if I didn't become a vicious fighter. And even if the ancient Lord Sorin and the Inquisitor Sot-Kolok didn't physically destroy themselves, I would be dead right now."

"How could a Sith Lord destroy himself?"

"There's a lot more to it than you think. How many sides of the Force are there?"

"Two."

I shook my head.

"Three. Those two discovered the third, Sorin and Sot. But they discovered it with one other, a Jedi. The Corrupt Side was born when they attempted to forcefully apply the Force to them through physical means. Injections through needles, extraction of midi-chlorians, anything that is unnatural."

"Disgusting."

I nodded.

"Very."

Shirante watched as Kalina dropped off a ledge of the obstacle course and landed on her legs in a crouching position, standing back up as she looked our direction. As she walked over to us, slinging her blaster rifle over her shoulder, she gave a brief wave.

"Come to check on us again, Corporal? And Venison?"

Shirante nodded.

"Everything is going well?"

Kalina nodded.

"We're just training more. Making sure we're especially prepared for another battle on Toger."

"Are there other soldiers of the Ray Squad in there?"

Kalina nodded and pointed up at Gobus and Ronnus on the track.

"There are the twins," she smiled softly.

"What about Comet?"

"Shooting gallery."

"Gaarer and Nattha?"

"Medical suite. Remember, Levi took a saber to the eye. And Bolt is down there too, trying to help."

"Is Pha Cornor with them too?"

Kalina shrugged.

"Where are Dashall and Arcinos?"

"They're in their rooms in the living quarters, resting."

"And Rakine Cerivian's friend? The boy?"

"Black and white hair?"

I nodded.

"That's Knuks."

"Oh! Yeah," she nodded. "He's up in the shooting gallery with Comet."

"So that's everyone," I sighed softly. "Rooda is with Yoshi in the medical suite. Rakine is- somewhere. I think other than him, we're all here."

Shirante nodded almost in approval.

"Well, when he gets back, we should all report down to the conference chambers and try to discuss our next battle strategy. We cannot go back to the Toger system head first. Not with the Empire protecting its main planet like a dog."

"What about the two moons?" I asked.

Shirante raised an eyebrow.

"What if we asked to settle on one of the moons? To keep a close eye on the Empire as they try to build their base within the Toger system."

"It's a very bold and risky move," Shirante suddenly smirked. "I like it."

I smiled weakly, then my smile faded away.

"But if were discovered, it could cost so many lives."

"Every silver lining has a cloud," Shirante sighed as stared ahead Ashe watched his soldiers train in the main area.

I pat his back with one hand before walking away to the living quarters.

* * *

(I would like to point out that since the beginning of this story, I planned the main character's Sith name to be "Venison" as he was named by a cruel and heartless old Sith Lord, during his apprenticeship. And by naming him after a cut of meat from his body, Sorin's given him the most disrespect to Ven's species as a whole. While the name at first was going to be an inside joke between myself and a friend, I decided to give an explanation into the story as to why he was named after a meat. Well, there's your reason, for those of you commenting about why his name is "Venison".)

(For those of you who haven't read the first one, and you're here for some weird reason, it would make more sense if you went back to read through the first. You'll understand all the reasons better.)

(It's a disrespectful joke to his species, and I think it's hilarious to keep his name the way it is, unless he decides to go back to his older name before he was tempted to the Dark Side. Other than that, I don't really have anything else to say about the matter.)

(I hope everyone continues to enjoy the story, and forgive my long disappearances from writing the story even further. I'm actually running out of good ideas here.)


End file.
